JVV 0472
Amsterdam, dated 1781
The Old Prince tile factory
Mark: A.S. for Adam Sijbel
The polychrome, diamond-shaped plaque has a profiled accolade-shaped rim, interrupted on four sides by shells. The larger, upper shell is pierced with a suspension hole. The plaque is painted with the Biblical story of the parable of ‘The treasure hidden in the field’ (Matthew 13:44) after print number 29 from Pieter Schut's 1659 Bybelsche Historien. The Bible inscription ‘Matt 13 V 44’ is inscribed on the door sill. Yellow volutes are painted in the profiled rim, the shells are in yellow.
Dimensions: height 33 cm / 12.99 in., width 34,7 cm / 13.66 in.
Provenance: Heinz Reichert, Munich, in private family ownership in North Rhine-Westphalia since 1991.
Explanatory note
Besides the mass production of tiles in the eighteenth century, tile factories in Amsterdam manufactured other items on a small scale such as plaques, trays, trivets and game-tiles. Also tea caddies, tobacco boxes, models of sleighs and shoes, and animal statues like cows, goats and dogs were made. Plaques form the largest part of this incidental production, and can clearly be distinguished from Delft examples stylistically and technically. Stylistically they are related more to tiles, tile pictures and other items from Amsterdam, than to plaques from Delft.
There are also important differences in production techniques. Delft plaques are molded in plaster molds and fired on pins in saggars. The plaques from Amsterdam were not fired in saggars, but standing on their side on two small clay cylinders between rows of tiles. The back of the plaques leaned against the tiles.
This production method leaves two damages close together on one of the long sides, and one damage on the back of the plaque close to the edge of the other long side. Pin marks on Delft plaques leave three, sometimes more, stripe-shaped damages on the back of the plaque. These pin marks are also on the side and are widely spaced. Delft plaques are sometimes placed on a ceramic ring on a baseplate in the saggar. This leaves an unglazed and ring-shaped trace on the back, sometimes a completely unglazed inner side of the ring. The differences in production technique is one of the main features that distinguish Delft from non-Delft. The Amsterdam characteristics can be easily recognised on this plaque (see photos).
Using molds enables a Delftware pottery to produce the same shape repeatedly, up to dozens or even hundreds of times, depending on how long the molds could be used. The Amsterdam plaques are all handmade and can therefore be considered as incidental products.
Several names of painters who worked in tile factories in Amsterdam are known. Some of them monogrammed or signed their work. Adam Sijbel (1746-1803) worked at the Old Prince tile factory in the Anjeliersstraat from 1764 till 1784. In 1784 he moved to Makkum in the province of Friesland to work in the Kingma family pottery, which was established in the same year. The ten year contract he signed to work in the pottery in Makkum has been preserved (Pluis, p. 209, supplement I).
Sijbel monogrammed and signed several pieces. A pair of reclining cows in the Royal Museum of Art and History in Brussels is signed ‘A.Sybel’ and dated 1778. One year later, in 1779, he painted a tobacco box in polychrome and signed it ‘Adam Sybel’. Apart from this Biblical plaque, three other objects are known to have an A.S. monogram: a game tile from 1764, a pair of trays from 1769, and an undated mule.
Biblical prints by Pieter Schut were frequently used as decors on Dutch faience and on tiles in particular. This Biblical decor was also painted on individual tiles made in Amsterdam.
Literature
J.D. van Dam, ‘’Delfts’ uit de provincie. Aardewerk uit de Hollandse tegelfabrieken’, in: Vormen uit Vuur, no. 168/169 (199/3-4), pp. 3-107
J. Pluis, Bijbeltegels. Bijbelse voorstellingen op Nederlandse wandtegels van de 17e tot de 20e eeuw / Bibelfliesen. Biblische Darstellungen auf niederländischen Wandfliesen vom 17. bis zum 20. Jahrhundert, Münster 1994
J. Pluis, S. ten Hoeve, P.J. Tichelaar, Fries aardewerk I. Kingma Makkum, Leiden 2000
Pieter Schut, Toneel ofte Vertooch der Bybelsche Historien, Cierlyck in’t koper gemaeckt door Pieter H. Schut, ende in druck uytgegeven door Nicolaes Visscher tot Amsteldam, Anno 1659, Amsterdam 1659 [Facsimile edition Utrecht, n.d., with a commentary by Victorine Bakker-Hefting].
