Tegel Boek

Half Calf. Cloth on boards. . Very Good. Compilation of 460 original watercolors of Delftware tiles, with a wide cross-section of the styles associated with Delftware and in total, representing in excess of 150 designs (since most, but not all designs, are achieved by a combination of tiles, generally four but sometimes more, and here each individual tile is a separate mounted paper). Designs include geometrics, flowers, foliage, fruits, animals (especially birds), people, castles and other buildings, ships, landscapes, mermaids, blueware, multi-colored designs, etc., and including tiles with a strong Italian and majolica influence. N.d., early to mid-20th century compilation, with designs also from the latter part of the 19th century -- many are classic designs, with the same or similar designs still being made today. Folio, 45.5 by 29.5 cm. 62 leaves, with often material just on the rectos but sometimes also the versos. Most leaves are devoted to the painted designs. The tiles are 7.5 cm square, and as indicated, usually four, sometimes six, are grouped together to create a single design. These are generally captioned with the name of the design and sometimes a terse detail or two, all rendered in Dutch but generally decipherable by the non-Dutch speaker. There are also 4 completely full pages of plain paper chits (33 of them) done in pen and ink, with initials of Delft potters and their corresponding groupings of various marks, tags etc. In addition to the designs and the makers' markings, the album has 15 pages, mostly grouped together at the end, devoted to a wide variety of Delftware-related ephemera, including lists of potters buried in Delft churchyards, recipes for making Delftware, manuscript historical information on the Zeldenrust mill, which was demolished in 1860, drawings, photographs, newspaper clippings especially on De Porceleyne Fles, memorabilia on a Kees Tulk and Jan van Beek, the father of the compiler and a potter, his brothers and himself, group portraits of potters. Van Beek, and his kin, worked at this De Porceleyne Fles. As the artwork in the album attests, he was an accomplished draughtsman. We can not know for sure what the impetus for this album was. Was it done on behalf of the company, or was it a more personal project, celebrating van Beek's and his family's work? Or possibly, a combination of the two. The binding itself is of interest as well with its mounted painting of blueware serving as the title label. Otherwise, the binding appears to be a retrofitted comercially purchased blank book. Condition: moderate wear to the binding. Underlying leaves are age toned, foxed, dampstained sometimes, etc. The paintings themselves have occasional light soiling, with some stains from the paste used to mount them coming through the paper, but overall are bright and fresh. First two leaves are loose. .