TRADITIONAL DUTCH TILE DESIGNS

The art of faďence tile making had found its way from Arabic North Africafrom where it had slowly progressed northward via Spain, Italy (mainly thecity of Faenza, hence the French "faďence") and Antwerp to arrive about1570 in the northern Dutch province of Friesland. The Royal TichelaarMakkum from which the designs in this book originate is the oldestenterprise in the Netherlands and indeed ranks it among the oldestcompanies in the world. Many of the designs this factory has been usingover the years have been compiled in an ancient volume kept in thehistorical collection of their archives, along with many examples ofactual antique tiles. For the first time a selection of these has now beenmade available for publication in this book.