Featured Tiles painted and big

New online buy and came in today : Big tiles 16x33 cm and thick 2.8 cm . But are the old and when and where made ? I think off Italy or Spain or Portugal . Anybody brings me more info ? Thanks

 

Very nice, Ger. They look Italian to me.

 

And when made first impression ?

 

I know next to nothing of what to look for in old/antique Italian tiles.
The costumes are Medieval-Renaissance, but that is an ongoing theme, and doesn't tell us anything about when they were made.

 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/928991419/italian-antique-ceramics-16th-17th

According to the internet the are Toscan roof tiles and made around 16/17th century . Size is according to these tiles . So now the question are the real or replica's sold in Italy as Toscan roof tiles

 

Roof tiles? Can you reference that?

 

If you look at 16/17th century roof tiles from Tuscan (Italie ) you see the have different tiles so with rounded edges and also bent tiles but also flat tiles on the same sizes as mine and painted also with different designs . And could be that flat roof tiles where als used to make a bigger tile picture to be on the house wall maybe ?

 

According to a seller, who doesn't seem to be specialised.

 

These sellers also say these are Tuscan roof tiles, recovered from farm houses:

https://www.italianpottery.com/shop/product-type/tiles/tuscan-countryside-season-tile-estate/

https://www.artistica.com/products/...n-roof-tile-with-nobleman-profile-0385-t4-maj

https://www.artistica.com/collections/roof-tuscan-tiles

I have not yet been able to find such a tile in situ.

 

Agree.

Debora

 

I wonder if they are regular old farm house roof tiles that have been decorated more recently. Just like people paint roof slates.
Painting roof tiles was a big thing in the Netherlands in the 60s and 70s, maybe it is a take on that.

 

Been reading about them but painting them is local mostly Toscane area but all ready starting hundreds off years ago . And the old tiles have also the flat Terracotta tiles being used in this size and thickness . So now it's only dating my two tiles I think

And seen also some Italian artist still painting on these tiles I have seen within my search on the net . Reverse search like on Bing and Yandex

 

Could you post a link (or links) with that information?

Posting a photo of undecorated tiles is no proof of the use of decorated tiles on roofs, or the history of such use.
They still make flat roof tiles of that thickness in Italy, btw, but they are undecorated. just like on the photo you posted. It is a traditional style, and the tradition continues.

I get the impression that decorating tiles, whether on reclaimed tiles or new ones, is a fairly recent thing. It also seems Tuscan farm roofs never had decorated tiles.

 

Seen on proper antique dealers the same tiles as real from the 16/17th century . Will send some links after the weekend . Bit busy with some other things now

 

Here's a link to Italian ceramics of the 1400s-1600s in the collection of the Met. It will be helpful for comparison.

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/colle...an,+Faenza&offset=0&rpp=40&pos=16

Debora

 

My feeling is that these are recently painted on reclaimed (or repurposed) tiles.

I'm pretty interested in architecture and pottery, I've never seen or heard of an Italian roof tile being decorated in this way - wall tiles yes but not on roofs. (Who would see it?)

Also you have to overlap roof tiles to make a roof watertight, which is still the usual way of doing things in Tuscany, so these designs with essential parts of the design worked right to the edge make no sense from that perspective. A quarter to a third would be covered as the photo of the undecorated tile roof shows.

Also, really just a feeling, but I also think that the face of the woman is modern, not 16th / 17th C. The line work around the nose seems a little...casual? The quick flourish lines seem to owe a debt to fashion illustration / graphic design, so it doesn't seem like it's in the right place on the art continuum to be very old...and the eyebrows...hmmm. But just a feeling on that.

Hope you find your definitive answer soon

 

Agree. The sensibility of the painting is modern. So is the speed with which it was done.

Debora

 

PRICEY little "pretties" on those sites!!!!!!!!!!!

 

They are Italian Faience tin glaze tiles 17th / 18th century , nice find.

 

I would find an expert to give their opinion