Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

1. In the Salon, the first room on the left as you enter, there is a cabinet. It holds two portrait tiles, blue, seventeenth century, of a man and a woman in ovals, with large corner designs. There is a blue tile showing an Apostle, with feathery corners. Apostles were popular with the Catholic customers. Derived apparently from a Flemish print.

There is a small church and the date 1632, in a scalloped frame with a fretwork/meander corner design - These corners resemble the Chinese Wan-li decoration. [see example attached] Scalloped frames often include accolades: frames featuring brackets.

2. In the Studeerkamer, the room on the right at the back next to the Garden Room, is a large blue tile showing a fountain; it was from a design by Daniel Marot and manufactured by the "Griekische A" [Greek A] factory in Delft, 1689-1694. A sign says it is one of the tiles originating from the Water Gallery built by William III of Orange and Queen Mary in the Palace of Hampton Court. The Royal Couple had also ordered a series of Delft pottery tulip vases in exceptional shapes and richly painted with floral decoration.

1580-1650
Grotius in Rotterdam, 1613-1617
Pieter de Hooch, born 1629
Johannes Vermeer and Antony van Leeuwenhoek born 1632

3. There is a tableau of 20 polychrome skirtingboard/baseboard tiles made in Rotterdam during 1590-1625 which would have overlapped Grotius' stay as Governor of Rotterdam. They depict soldiers in Eastern costume (known as "Turkish soldiers" or Saracens) and are a lively display painted in orange, green and blue. The "Saracens" , embellished somewhat, derived from The Roman Heroes by Hendrick Goltius a printmaker of great importance in the period. The Roman soldiers have scarves, swords and shields and Saracen bowmen wear turbans and scarves and all figures give the impression of constant swirling motion. Each figure takes up the whole tile and there are no corner decorations.

4. There is the figure of a mythical seacreature (zeewesen) stretching over two tiles-polychrome, no corner designs, manufactured in Rotterdam between 1590 and 1625.

Example of a sea creature

5. There is another polychrome tableau of 12 tiles dated as 1580-1625 produced in Northern Netherlands, depicting animals such as an elephant, dog, rabbit/hare, turkey within diamond shaped design with corners in the reserve technique, corners of four tiles make a complete pattern.

Grotius died in 1645
de Hooch, 19 years old in 1648
Vermeer and Leeuwenhoek 16 years old in 1648

Cadelabra tile

6. There is a tile field of 48 blue Candelabra tiles- similar to the attached example.

8. A series of 12 blue tiles dated from 1620-1650 depict trades or crafts such as basketmakers and fish sellers; a man or woman has a yoke across their shoulders carrying buckets or baskets; another person is sewing.

9. Some of my favourite tiles show birds sitting on nails (one bird per nail) A set of nine polychrome tiles of various birds, no corner designs, were made in Gouda between 1625 and 1650 at the Workshop De Swaen. They are imbued with life; some are ready to launch an attack on an unfortunate victim; others bide their time and plan some other mischief.

Grotius died in 1645
de Hooch, 19 years old in 1648
Vermeer and Leeuwenhoek 16 years old in 1648

10. At the time of my visit in September 1998 there was an exhibition of tiles highlighting soldiers. It marked the period from 1621-1648; that is, from the end of the Twelve-Year Truce to the Treaty of Münster which ended the Eighty Years War [in 1648]. Soldier tiles were based largely on illustrations from the works of Jacob de Gheyn (1565-1629) and Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617) Soldiers, militiamen, musketeers, infantry and cavalry, pikemen, drummers, with their horses, swords and rifles crowded one another . Many soldiers tend to be dressed in contemporary costumes rather than protective armour and one would think their survival time in battle would be extremely short. Individual warriors sometimes are depicted standing beneath an archway, symbolic of victory and honour.

11. Around the upper gallery, is a series of 24 tile pictures of 4x3 tiles, set in the decorative semi-recessed wall arches up near the ceiling. These from 1610-1640 and were made in Northern Netherlands, perhaps Delft. Each picture depicts a soldier or horseman. who stands framed by an arch, fully painted with landscape and background. I think these are permanent displays but they fitted right into the exhibition theme.

12. A tile picture: 78 tiles in mangan/purple and yellow ochre, depict a naked youth, left foot resting on a world globe and his right hand raised in the air. Below the globe is a short banner/scroll. This was part of an original design intended for a stained glass window in St. John's Church in Gouda. It came from the Workshop De Swaen, in Gouda, about 1640. William Verswaen was able to use drawings that Joachim Utewael/Wttewael, a painter from Utrecht, prepared for the church around 1596-9.

1650-1700
Grotius has died
Vermeer dies in 1675; his most well-known work in 1660's
de Hooch dies in 1684; our favourite paintings done between 1659-1660
Leeuwenhoek is 68 in 1700

13. In keeping with the sea motif, we find a nice tile field of 6 blue tiles from Harlingen, 1650-1680, with sea creatures, one of which is similar to that attached.

14. An unusual boat scene is one of eight blue tiles, 1650-1700, from the Northern Netherlands whose vertical display traces the stages of the building of a simple boat. There are six panels of this same display making an interesting tile field.

15. Also on permanent display in the upper gallery, but which fits in to the exhibition theme, is the very large wall tile picture of a sea battle by Cornelis Boumeester: consisting of 11x15 blue tiles, it depicts the Battle of La Hogue, 1692, off the peninsula of Cotentin, near Cherbourg, in which the Dutch and the English drove the French out of the Channel and thus destroyed Louis XIV's attempt to invade England. Boumeester (1652-1733) was a tile-painter who worked in Rotterdam. He painted ships and sea battles and other historical events which lent themselves to portrayal in large tile pictures He was chief tile-maker in the workshop of Jacobus de Colonia on the Delftsche Vaart (Delft Canal) from 1676. He copied his ships largely from prints by Romein de Hooghe. He usually signed his work. We could wish that more had followed his practice.

Eighteenth Century
Leeuwenhoek dies in 1723 at age 91

16. Another scenic tile picture: a large vase of several varieties of flowers with the attendant birds and butterflies, manufactured in either Delft or Rotterdam about 1700-1750; the type of polychrome tile picture which was exported to Germany and which was discussed in the section on the Amalienburg Hunting Lodge at Schloss Nymphenburg, Munich.

17. A tile picture of six tiles, somewhat less edifying, as a kind of offshoot of war, is that of a young man with his trousers down, sitting on a toilet of the period plus two lines of text which I will include here. I understand it is a ribald joke about what happens to someone who doesn't pay his taxes during the time of the Napoleonic Wars. The two lines are as follows: "Die den impost, niet betaalt, Moet scheiten dat hem den drommel/Haaldt." The main picture is surrounded by an attractive border of narrow tiles decorated with star-shaped flowers and leafy tendrils. The tiles are in the manganese/purple colour and were manufactured in the Northern Netherlands, 1750-1800.

18. The Museum holds an enviable collection of Biblical tiles too numerous to mention here. See attached three examples of similar tiles. Remember that the same motifs and designs were used over and over by tile potters.

19. In the entrance hall, are some very special Biblical tiles. A group of 12 blue tiles depicts Apostles and scenes from the life of the Virgin. One scene is given by de Jonge (2-illus. 62) as the Madonna of the Mantle: a figure shelters those in need under her mantle. After some research, I found that this designation becomes the The Madonna Misericordiae, The Mother of Mercy/Our Lady of Succour or Die Madonna mit dem Schutzmantel /Maria Mutter des Erbarmens or Notre Dame de Miséricorde. Pluis (2) lists this as an illustration of St. Ursula, a fourth century martyr. Ursula, a British princess, went on a pilgrimage to Rome and was murdered in Cologne by the Huns, on her way home, along with thousands of virgins she was protecting. The figure has an arrow in one hand and a palm leaf in the other. Pluis(2) defines the corner leaves with tendrils as a vineleaf design. (A.02.11.02) The tiles are rather pockmarked but the painting is fine and clear. They make a lovely set.

20. Flower tiles from Friesland similar to this example.

21. I did not find the three plates which are dedicated to Antony van Leeuwenhoek. I believe they must be in storage.

22. Check the Leidse Room upstairs. There is a video program illustrating how the camera obscura could have helped Vermeer in his painting.

23. Watch for a rarity: a tulip spread over two tiles. [It should be there, but I must confess that I forgot to double-check on my last trip]

24. As you travel, watch for landscape tiles painted by the Delft potter and painter of tiles and other ceramics, Frederik van Frijtom. Born in 1632, he was listed in the records in Delft in 1658. He was a self-employed master potter and did not join the Guild. He died in Delft in 1702 and was buried in the Nieuwe Kerk. His painting is very finely done.

After your tour around the Lambert van Meerten House, I suggest you visit a nearby pancake house to relax and think about what you have seen. Depending on the weather and time of the year, you can sit either inside or outside by the canal. However you should go to the back of the restaurant and take a look at the very artistic little nook off the rear of the cafe.