The story of Delft tiles is closely linked with the story of the Netherlands, says Durk Regts, director of a Dutch company specialising in antique Delft tiles.
‘In the early-16th century, Antwerp, in modern-day Belgium, was the European cultural capital, and the best craftsmen from all over Europe were based there. But after the Spanish invasion in 1584, they fled north to what we now call the Netherlands,’ he explains. Italian majolica-makers brought with them their tradition of making highly decorated, colourful clay floor tiles with an opaque glaze.
Referred to as Delft, most of them weren't actually made there
‘When you look at Dutch tiles made in the 1600s, you can see that a new distinctive tile-making tradition was emerging, with its roots in the work of the Italian potters.’ Nowadays, we refer to these tiles as Delft, but most of them were not actually made in Delft.
For centuries, Delft was the epicentre for the manufacture of blue and white earthenware, but it predominantly made things like vases and plates; not tiles. Calling them Delft tiles is misleading, Durk thinks. ‘Tiles were made in lots of other places in the Netherlands – Rotterdam, Haarlem and Middelburg – but Delft takes the credit for tiles because it was so well-known for its production of other kinds of blue and white earthenware. At heart, I am a purist and think we should be calling them Dutch tiles, which is far more accurate, but the world knows them as Delft.’
Original Delft tiles had a practical function
During the 1600s, the country grew rich from its seafaring and colonies, and merchants and noblemen used Delft tiles extensively in their homes.
The tiles had two main functions, says Durk: ‘The first was all about showing off. They were a luxury product, a sign of status, rather like cars or watches are today. The pictures on the tiles – ships, exotic birds, animals like elephants and camels, and glamorous, faraway places – communicated their owners’ sophistication and wealth.’
Their second function was more practical. Tiled surfaces, for example around a fire, were far easier to keep clean.
By the beginning of the 20th century, the handmade industry had disappeared, replaced by machines. But it wasn’t very long before artisans started using traditional techniques again, making tiles in an antique style.
Durk says customers often show him tiles they think were made in the 17th century, but they’re usually these mid-century reproductions. The earliest tiles are relatively easy to spot, he explains: ‘The rare 1600s tiles are very thick at around 1.5cm; you can see the relationship with heavy Majolica floor tiles. Gradually, over the next two centuries, they became slimmer, but by the 18th century you can’t rely on the thickness of a tile to date it. We look at things like the smoothness of the glaze, the style of the decoration and use of colour. You need an expert eye.’
Telling Dutch and English delft apart
It can be just as challenging to tell Dutch and English-made tiles apart, says Martyn Edgell, a UK-based dealer in English delftware. The idea of ‘English’ delftware might sound like a contradiction, but Dutch-style tiles were made in the UK as early as the 1600s.
Transporting tiles and other earthenware from Europe by ship was expensive and risky – so, by the 18th century, a rival homegrown industry had developed, catering to the taste of the expanding middle classes for fashionable tiled interiors.
English tiles have several distinctive features, says Martyn:‘Traditionally, the designs on the Dutch tiles were made using paper with holes punched out; soot was pressed through the holes, and then the painter joined up the lines and created the image – a kind of dot-to-dot. The English tiles were generally painted freehand so were a bit less stilted, more free-flowing – or they were transfer-printed.
There are other small differences, such as corner designs that you only see on English tiles. But it’s only after studying English delft for years, and handling thousands of different tiles, that you learn how to identify them.’
Different markets and uses for Delft, such as kitchen splashbacks
Martyn and Durk agree that there are two quite different markets for Delft. Some people want to use tiles in their homes, and look to buy 20 or more tiles at once. Collectors, meanwhile, are only interested in individual tiles, and gravitate to the most unusual examples in the best possible condition. They’ll pay over £100 for a single tile, and thousands of pounds for true rarities; a prohibitively expensive approach for someone just wanting to tile behind their Aga.
Durk’s father started specialising in Delft in the 1960s, when collectors were mainly interested in individual tiles. ‘If tiles were salvaged from a fireplace, people would pick out the rarest examples, while the plain ones, or those with any damage, were thrown away,’ says Durk. ‘My father’s philosophy was to preserve all the tiles. And now, lots of our customers are interested in larger installations of Delft tiles, for example as splashbacks in kitchens. We often use the plain white tiles, which many used to think were valueless, to extend the design area and to highlight the picture tiles. And the broken tiles we can cut and use in corners. It’s wonderful to be able to give them a new life.’
Expert advice for using Delft tiles
Durk Regts reveals the things to think about when installing Delft tiles at home
‘We sell antique Dutch Delft tiles all over the world, where customers are not bound to the traditional Dutch approach. They use Delft in exciting combinations and contexts; it’s inspiring to see what they achieve.
'The most important thing is to think ahead. Lay everything out and plan it carefully. You can use tiles together from different historic periods, but as older tiles are much thicker, you need a really skilled tiler who is able to use different grout thicknesses to get an even surface. And remember that, as they are handmade, antique tiles are rarely precisely the same size.
'Removing tiles is a messy business. Over the years, we’ve become expert at it and we use precision equipment so we don’t get any breakages, but it involves taking off about a centimetre of wall as well as the tile.
'Ideally, a new installation of antique tiles should be first fixed onto a panel using a lime-based grout. The panel is then screwed to the wall so that if you ever want to move it, there’s no risk to the tiles; you just unscrew the panel.
'There are other practical considerations. Bathrooms aren’t ideal, especially areas that come into direct contact with water. The functionality of a 200-year-old tile is not the same as a modern-made tile. Even the smallest chip in the glaze allows water to penetrate, and this can damage not just the tile but the wall behind it.'
