TILE PANEL DESIGN TICHELAAR MAKKUM
A design from 1953 has been added to the Brouwer-Bitgum Collection for a tile panel by N.V. Tichelaars Kleiwarenfbriek in Makkum (Royal Tichelaar, 1572)
The painting was probably intended for a new house by potato farmers Arjen Gerbens Brouwer and Yke de Jong, pioneers in the Noordoostpolder, but it was never completed. The drawing in black pencil is 65 cm high and 39 cm wide. Central is the tree of life, in the middle of which is a village view with a church and a head-neck-body farmhouse with a plowing farmer in the foreground, behind a single-furrow plough pulled by a two-man team. In addition, a sailing barge.
At the bottom of the tree trunk is described in Art Nouveau letters: Psalm 24:2; and in the roots to the left: The earth is the Lord’s, and to the right: He has founded it upon the seas. On the bottom is an open bible with the text: To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life. Rev. 2:7
Had this panel been completed, it would have had fifteen tiles of 13 x 13 cm. Three in width and five in height, including the rim.
The drawing is not signed. It is possible the maker is Jan Romkes Steensma (Purmerend 1887-Sneek 1967; x 1918 Tjitske Steringa), who had been working as a pottery painter at Tichelaar in Makkum since 1907.
See: P.J. Tichelaar, Fries aardewerk – Tichelaar Makkum 1868-1963, Primavera Pers, 2004, ISBN 9789074310901, page 213). Thanks to Pieter Frietema of Royal Tichelaar.
