Van Tilburg Collection

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The Van Tilburg Collection
Old Arts Faculty Building, University of Pretoria.jpg
The Old Arts building houses the museum
Location Pretoria, South Africa
Type Art museum

The Van Tilburg Collection is an art collection at the University of Pretoria that comprises 17th and 18th century furniture, paintings, Delft ceramics and other works of art, and includes the largest South African collection of Chinese ceramic objects. The oriental ceramic collection comprises 1699 pieces of earthenware, stoneware and porcelain dating from about 2000 BC until the early twentieth century. [1]

J.A. Van Tilburg [2] bequeathed his collection of Eastern and European ceramics, furniture, paintings, graphic works, carpets and metal ware to the University of Pretoria on 19 November 1976. This collection includes Chinese ceramics dating from 2000 BC, furniture dating from 1100 AC, several European paintings and vases from the Kangxi Emperor's personal collection.

Examples of Chinese ceramics from the Qin (221-206 BC), Han (202 BC – AD 220), Tang (AD 618-906), Song (AD 960-1279), Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1912) dynasties can be seen in this collection. There are also examples of Japanese Arita and Imari porcelain and Annamese (Vietnamese) ceramics, as well as 63 examples of early Delft earthenware. It includes plates, garnitures and flowerpots. In addition, there are three panels with 50 17th-century Delft tiles.

Among the older pieces in the collection of Tang funerary wares there is a beige amphora with dragon handles, a typical polychrome figure of Ch'I-t'ou with an animal head and a 'three-colour' (green/brown/yellow) phoenix head pilgrim's flask. There are Tang lokapala tomb guardians of Fang-Hsiang standing on a reclining bull. These guardians are made partly in human and partly in animal form, and kept evil spirits away from the tombs of the dead. One of the Tang wares is a dark brown early pot, which was originally given to a Taoist monastery by Emperor Taizong of the Tang dynasty to commemorate his victory over the Eastern Turks in AD 630.

The Van Tilburg Collection contains a representative collection of Song wares: many Celadons, a few Ding wares, nine Cizhou wares and a few Junyao wares. Celadons are characterised by the semi-translucent green glaze, which varies in colour from a pale grey-green to a deep olive-green. Junyao wares are unmistakable due to their blue, purple and crimson colours. There are seven Junyao items in the collection.

This collection contains 550 pieces of Ming porcelain, of which 323 pieces are underglaze blue-and-white. There are 40 large Ming Swatow chargers and many smaller objects such as bowls, flasks, plates and cups. Examples of Chenghua (1465-1487), Hongzhi (1488-1505), Zhengde (1506-1521), Jiajing (1522-1566) and Wanli (1573-1619) wares are found in the Collection.

Noteworthy Kangxi (1662-1722) and Qianlong (1736-1795) pieces are the large blue-and-white porcelain chargers, the underglaze red pots and blue-and-white ritual stand with two side vases. There are numerous polychrome Kangxi 'Famille verte' and Qianlong 'Famille rose' plates in the collection. The collection holds a pair of 'Famille noire' pots which belonged to the Kangxi Emperor.

There are also a number of Imperial Japanese pieces in the collection, among them a blue-and-white Arita gendi with Arabian ormolu mouldings, an early 19th-century blue-and-white Arita charger decorated with a floral still life and pomegranates, a large blue-and-white vase decorated with priests and flowers, and many polychrome pieces of Japanese porcelain, such as a number of Imari tea sets and plates and a Kakeimon plate from about 1650 decorated with eight panels and a landscape.

The Van Tilburg Collection has many Swatow pots, bowls, plates and chargers representing all the different decoration styles.

There has been speculation [3] that Van Tilburg's collection may have been plundered from Jewish families during World War II. There was a lot of negative publicity around the donation to the university and a court case in the Netherlands during the 1970s. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delftware</span> Dutch pottery

Delftware or Delft pottery, also known as Delft Blue or as delf, is a general term now used for Dutch tin-glazed earthenware, a form of faience. Most of it is blue and white pottery, and the city of Delft in the Netherlands was the major centre of production, but the term covers wares with other colours, and made elsewhere. It is also used for similar pottery, English delftware.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese pottery and porcelain</span> Overview of Japanese pottery and porcelain

Pottery and porcelain, is one of the oldest Japanese crafts and art forms, dating back to the Neolithic period. Kilns have produced earthenware, pottery, stoneware, glazed pottery, glazed stoneware, porcelain, and blue-and-white ware. Japan has an exceptionally long and successful history of ceramic production. Earthenwares were made as early as the Jōmon period, giving Japan one of the oldest ceramic traditions in the world. Japan is further distinguished by the unusual esteem that ceramics holds within its artistic tradition, owing to the enduring popularity of the tea ceremony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celadon</span> Term for ceramics with two different types of glazes

Celadon is a term for pottery denoting both wares glazed in the jade green celadon color, also known as greenware or "green ware", and a type of transparent glaze, often with small cracks, that was first used on greenware, but later used on other porcelains. Celadon originated in China, though the term is purely European, and notable kilns such as the Longquan kiln in Zhejiang province are renowned for their celadon glazes. Celadon production later spread to other parts of East Asia, such as Japan and Korea as well as Southeast Asian countries, such as Thailand. Eventually, European potteries produced some pieces, but it was never a major element there. Finer pieces are in porcelain, but both the color and the glaze can be produced in stoneware and earthenware. Most of the earlier Longquan celadon is on the border of stoneware and porcelain, meeting the Chinese but not the European definitions of porcelain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art</span> Chinese ceramics and related items at the British Museum

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imari ware</span> Type of Japanese porcelain ware

Imari ware is a Western term for a brightly-coloured style of Arita ware Japanese export porcelain made in the area of Arita, in the former Hizen Province, northwestern Kyūshū. They were exported to Europe in large quantities, especially between the second half of the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Korean pottery and porcelain</span>

Korean ceramic history begins with the oldest earthenware from around 8000 BC. Throughout the history, the Korean peninsula has been home to lively, innovative, and sophisticated art making. Long periods of stability have allowed for the establishment of spiritual traditions, and artisan technologies specific to the region. Korean ceramics in Neolithic period have a unique geometric patterns of sunshine, or it is decorated with twists. In Southern part of Korea, Mumun pottery were popular. Mumun togi used specific minerals to make colors of red and black. Korean pottery developed a distinct style of its own, with its own shapes, such as the moon jar or Buncheong sagi which is a new form between earthenware and porcelain, white clay inlay celadon of Goryeo, and later styles like minimalism that represents Korean Joseon philosophers' idea. Many talented Korean potters were captured and brought to Japan during the invasions of Korea, where they heavily contributed to advancing Japanese pottery. Arita ware, founded by Yi Sam-pyeong opened a new era of porcelain in Japan. Another Japanese representative porcelain, Satsuma ware was also founded by Dang-gil Shim and Pyeong-ui Park. 14th generation of Su-kwan Shim have been using the same name to his grandfather and father to honor they are originally Korean, 14th Su-kwan Shim is honorable citizen of Namwon, Korea.

<i>Kakiemon</i> Style of Japanese porcelain

Kakiemon is a style of Japanese porcelain, with overglaze decoration called "enameled" ceramics. It was originally produced at the factories around Arita, in Japan's Hizen province from the Edo period's mid-17th century onwards. The style shares much in common with the Chinese "Famille Verte" style. The quality of its decoration was highly prized in the West and widely imitated by major European porcelain manufacturers during the Rococo period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinese export porcelain</span>

Chinese export porcelain includes a wide range of Chinese porcelain that was made (almost) exclusively for export to Europe and later to North America between the 16th and the 20th century. Whether wares made for non-Western markets are covered by the term depends on context. Chinese ceramics made mainly for export go back to the Tang dynasty if not earlier, though initially they may not be regarded as porcelain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue and white pottery</span> Vases

"Blue and white pottery" covers a wide range of white pottery and porcelain decorated under the glaze with a blue pigment, generally cobalt oxide. The decoration is commonly applied by hand, originally by brush painting, but nowadays by stencilling or by transfer-printing, though other methods of application have also been used. The cobalt pigment is one of the very few that can withstand the highest firing temperatures that are required, in particular for porcelain, which partly accounts for its long-lasting popularity. Historically, many other colours required overglaze decoration and then a second firing at a lower temperature to fix that.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Famille jaune, noire, rose, verte</span>

Famille jaune, noire, rose, verte are terms used in the West to classify Chinese porcelain of the Qing dynasty by the dominant colour of its enamel palette. These wares were initially grouped under the French names of famille verte, and famille rose by Albert Jacquemart in 1862. The other terms famille jaune (yellow) and famille noire (black) may have been introduced later by dealers or collectors and they are generally considered subcategories of famille verte. Famille verte porcelain was produced mainly during the Kangxi era, while famille rose porcelain was popular in the 18th and 19th century. Much of the Chinese production was Jingdezhen porcelain, and a large proportion were made for export to the West, but some of the finest were made for the Imperial court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swatow ware</span>

Swatow ware or Zhangzhou ware is a loose grouping of mainly late Ming dynasty Chinese export porcelain wares initially intended for the Southeast Asian market. The traditional name in the West arose because Swatow, or present-day Shantou, was the South Chinese port in Guangdong province from which the wares were thought to have been shipped. The many kilns were probably located all over the coastal region, but mostly near Zhangzhou, Pinghe County, Fujian, where several were excavated in the mid-1990s, which has clarified matters considerably.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinese ceramics</span> Pottery and porcelain from China

Chinese ceramics show a continuous development since pre-dynastic times and are one of the most significant forms of Chinese art and ceramics globally. The first pottery was made during the Palaeolithic era. Chinese ceramics range from construction materials such as bricks and tiles, to hand-built pottery vessels fired in bonfires or kilns, to the sophisticated Chinese porcelain wares made for the imperial court and for export. Porcelain was a Chinese invention and is so identified with China that it is still called "china" in everyday English usage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmé Samson</span>

Edmé Samson, founder of the porcelain firm Samson, Edmé et Cie, was a famous copyist of porcelain and pottery. The firm produced high-quality copies or imitations of earlier styles of porcelain, mainly 18th-century European and Chinese and Japanese porcelain, but also earlier styles such as Italian maiolica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transitional porcelain</span>

Transitional porcelain is Jingdezhen porcelain, manufactured at China's principle ceramic production area, in the years during and after the transition from Ming to Qing. As with several previous changes of dynasty in China, this was a protracted and painful period of civil war. Though the start date of Qing rule is customarily given as 1644, when the last Ming emperor hanged himself as the capital fell, the war had really begun in 1618 and Ming resistance continued until 1683. During this period, the Ming system of large-scale manufacturing in the imperial porcelain factories, with orders and payments coming mainly from the imperial court, finally collapsed, and the officials in charge had to turn themselves from obedient civil servants into businessmen, seeking private customers, including foreign trading companies from Europe, Japanese merchants, and new domestic customers.

<i>Sancai</i>

Sancai is a versatile type of decoration on Chinese pottery using glazes or slip, predominantly in the three colours of brown, green, and a creamy off-white. It is particularly associated with the Tang dynasty (618–907) and its tomb figures, appearing around 700. Therefore, it is commonly referred to as Chinese: 唐三彩 Tang Sancai in Chinese. Tang sancai wares were sometimes referred in China and the West as egg-and-spinach by dealers, for their use of green, yellow, and white, especially when combined with a streaked effect.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint-Cloud porcelain</span>

Saint-Cloud porcelain was a type of soft-paste porcelain produced in the French town of Saint-Cloud from the late 17th to the mid 18th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jingdezhen porcelain</span> Chinese pottery produced as early as the sixth century CE in or near Jingdezhen in Jiangxi, China

Jingdezhen porcelain is Chinese porcelain produced in or near Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province in southern China. Jingdezhen may have produced pottery as early as the sixth century CE, though it is named after the reign name of Emperor Zhenzong, in whose reign it became a major kiln site, around 1004. By the 14th century it had become the largest centre of production of Chinese porcelain, which it has remained, increasing its dominance in subsequent centuries. From the Ming period onwards, official kilns in Jingdezhen were controlled by the emperor, making imperial porcelain in large quantity for the court and the emperor to give as gifts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">China painting</span> Art of painting on ceramics

China painting, or porcelain painting, is the decoration of glazed porcelain objects such as plates, bowls, vases or statues. The body of the object may be hard-paste porcelain, developed in China in the 7th or 8th century, or soft-paste porcelain, developed in 18th-century Europe. The broader term ceramic painting includes painted decoration on lead-glazed earthenware such as creamware or tin-glazed pottery such as maiolica or faience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arita ware</span> Type of Japanese porcelain ware

Arita ware is a broad term for Japanese porcelain made in the area around the town of Arita, in the former Hizen Province, northwestern Kyūshū island. It is also known as Hizen ware after the wider area of the province. This was the area where the great majority of early Japanese porcelain, especially Japanese export porcelain, was made.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese export porcelain</span>

Japanese export porcelain includes a wide range of porcelain that was made and decorated in Japan primarily for export to Europe and later to North America, with significant quantities going to south and southeastern Asian markets. Production for export to the West falls almost entirely into two periods, firstly between the 1650s and 1740s, and then the period from the 1850s onwards.

References

  1. "Museums & Collections - Van Tilburg Collection". University of Pretoria. Archived from the original on 2 June 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  2. "Museums & Collections - Van Tilburg Collection". University of Pretoria. Archived from the original on 5 June 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  3. "The Nazi origins of Tuks's pride and joy". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  4. "Jacob van Tilburg loses his head". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 15 June 2015.