Featured Delft Tile

I'm looking for information about this tile I found among my grandmother's things. Thank you.

 

Wonder if it's supposed to be van gogh, that's what I get from it

 

No I don't think so. The letters upper right seem to stand for Van Der Velde - whoever that was.

 

This is from Van Hook's book Discovering Dutch Delftware for de Porcelyne Fles. Ca 1945 up until around 1960 he says.

 

Beautiful tile.

 

Agreed, with delight...ver' desirable!

 

Kind of Pilgrim-y.........But VERY NICE!!!

 

Beautiful, full of character.

Not with those stockings and silver buckles on his shoes.

I think it says Adr. v.d. Velde, which could be Adriaen van de Velde, one of the van de Velde family of seascape and coastal landscape painters. Hence the seashore with what looks like dunes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adriaen_van_de_Velde

He could be wearing a painter's smock, which is often yellowish.

 

AHA!! BUT what's with the seal with a balloon on his nose??

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You go lookin' fer trouble as a life-work?

 

I'm not sure.... but I think that is his pet seal.

 

NAH, sometimes, it just finds me!!!

 

I don't know what Pilgrim-y means, unsurprisingly.

Y'know, the overall initial impression is of high artistic craft...though sparse in detail (silver buckles an' seal & ball aside). But there's a whole lot of subtle detail in it. The use of some kind of resist to prevent (mostly) glazes from intruding into the carved outlines, and the symmetrical 'pie-crust' treatment of the edges which are unembellished with color but nonetheless serve to give us a sense of viewing him through a portal, window or doorway. Th' more I see of it, the better I appreciate this tile!

 

As best as I have learned from owning about 50 of these DePorceleyneFles and Westraven tiles, is that the DPF tiles can be dated thusly: Prior to WW2, Joost Thooft's initials, JT, were embossed inside the iconic jug. Post-war, they are outside/below the jug, BUT there are some commemorative tiles made just after the war that do have his initials still inside the jug. Also, due to prohibitive cost-of-production, DPF ceased producing these tiles in 1977.