Five Delft Tiles Possibly 16th to 18th Century

Hello everyone, recently got my girlfriends auntie into going to auctions and one of her first purchases was these five tiles along with a ceramic artichoke finial. Photo attached below, only have the stock auction photo for now. The auction stated that they were four delft tiles and one other, I’m assuming they are referring to the top left one. Still looks to be a tin enamel tile with age.

I haven’t had any experience owning delft tiles but these seem to be very good for the £25 she paid. The one featuring the owl motif is 16th or early 17th Century in style. The boats and the artist seem to be 17th/18th Century in style and I’m unsure of the other but most likely 18th again. Please correct me though if my observations are off, I haven’t had the joy of learning about delft tiles in any detail yet.

Can’t say much about the artichoke without looking for a makers mark or matching the design to a current one. It is lovely nonetheless.

 

I think too thin to be that old, here's a good website on determining age of Delft tiles.
http://www.delfter-fliese.de/english_index.htm

The artichoke is probably "Two's Company" & very new.
https://www.google.com/search?biw=1899&bih=904&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=tbmlWsO1IIK5ggfd7pTACQ&q=two%27s+company+artichoke

 

Do you not think the owl one looks thicker than the others? @anundverkaufen

Thanks on the artichoke

 

The first thing I'd suggest is to flip them over and see if there are any identifying marks. The top right "artist" has corners that remind me of Makkum tiles.

 

Well I do know DELFT shows a Windmill - My Mother has Delft plates and they all have windmills on them!

 

They don't "smell" old to me. The two with the matching borders look like what I'm used to seeing as tourist souvenir pieces. I think the bird might well be too. The artist may well be a copy of a really old tile. No clue about the smallest one.

 

I’ve been learning all I can from the website @anundverkaufen linked, it's brilliant for beginners. Dr. Ulrich Carlhoff and Wolfram Brie who made the website have a marvellous collection too.

I definately can’t tell till I flip them over your right @say_it_slowly then I’d know if they’re modern or original

They were originally made in the Netherlands so the windmill motifs will stem from there.

 

£25 is fine for this lot. I don't know what the prices in the UK are like, but I'm sure if she wants to sell she'll make some profit.

Those 'ossekop' (ox head) corners can be seen on Makkum tiles, but they are pretty generic, not restricted to a single town. They were first seen in the second half of the 17th century, but this one is later, possibly nineteenth century.
The two ship tiles look 20th century. Is that damage on one of them, or just the remains of a price tag?
The top left one was once part of a tile tableau.
The owl one does not look Dutch at all, I think that is the non-Dutch one the auctioneer meant. Dutch circle tiles with that kind of corner motif were based on Italian tiles.
Here is a Dutch circle tile:


When you see them in 'real life', could you take photos of the backs and give us the dimensions, including thickness?

 

I will, I read something about the corner motifs being referred to as rosettes and they were some of the earliest used because of their resemblance to Italian motifs. Oh yeh I’ll be checking all then when I see them.

Thanks for the more comprehensive analysis. Nice one

 

When you get a chance to look at the backs please post a few pics if you can. I only have a few old Delft tiles but I do have a good book or two on them.

I did just want to comment on the windmills and Delft. Delft is a place and it has been well know for producing tin-glazed earthenware for several hundred years. Much of what is called "Delft" is really Delft-style made elsewhere. (You will also see some old Delft-style called English delftware and normally that uses a small "d".)

The windmill does appear on Delft tiles, plates etc but so do many, many other motifs. Much of what people are familiar with are souvenir "Delft" with windmills and other popular scenes. Much, but not all, of that is 20th Century.