Delft Tile
This tile shows a countryside scene in Holland in the 1600s or 1700s. This type of tile is called âDutch blue and whiteâ or âDutch Delftâ. Tiles like these can be seen in the fireplaces at Wilberforce House. Delft tiles were always hand painted. They originally had multi-coloured decoration, including green, purple and orange. From around 1620 simpler blue and white tiles were made. These eventually became much more popular than the coloured tiles. The name âDutch Delftâ comes from the city of Delft in Holland. Delft was one of many cities making tiles and other pottery. At first, tiles and pottery were made in the same factories. Later, Delft specialised in making affordable imitations of costly Chinese porcelain. Tile making was left to other cities, including Rotterdam. Dutch tiles were brought to English ports like Hull in huge numbers. They can be seen lining the fireplaces of many buildings, including Hullâs Wilberforce House. Tiles were rarely used to cover entire walls of Dutch houses. They were used around windows and fireplaces, or as narrow skirtings at the bottom of walls. Sometimes they were used as a dado to stop whitewash being rubbed off the walls onto clothes. The decoration on this tile was made by painting directly onto an unfired glaze. Glaze is a type of liquid or powdered glass used to give pottery a shiny, waterproof covering. Usually, the design was first âpouncedâ onto the tile with charcoal. This involved using a piece of paper with the outline of the design pricked into it. This paper was laid onto the tile and struck with a bag containing powdered charcoal. This transferred the outline of the picture to the tile. The outline was painted over and filled in with paint. When the tile was fired, the glaze became shiny white and opaque.
