Dutch tiles, where were they made?!

As mentioned in the previous article, the first potters to start a workshop in the Netherlands came from Italy. But why did they come to The Netherlands? Where did they settle? And what do I mean with The Netherlands? Let me tell you!

When talking about the Netherlands in a historical context, I should say: the Low Countries, which makes it more clear that we are not referring to the Netherlands as a country but as a region. In the 16th century, the Netherlands did not yet exist. This region was the size of nowadays Belgium and the Netherlands and was made up of counties, duchies, and principalitys. Which, in turn, were part of the Burgundian state and later the Habsburg / Spanish Empire, therefore called the Habsburg Netherlands. #Interesting Fact: ‘The Netherlands? Why don’t you just call it Holland? Well, they are not the same!, that is a huge misunderstanding. Holland is just one small part of the Netherlands. First as a county, later a province.’ 

The first potter who came to the Low Countries was Guido di Savino, he settled in Antwerp in 1507. To blend in with the locals, he changed his name to Guido Andries (the name of his father in law). Due to wars and therefore instability in the Mediterranean, the economic center shifted to Northern Europe, especially to Flanders (the more southern part of the Low Countries). Economic prosperity, in turn, leads to a demand for luxury goods such as maiolica tiles and ceramics. A vacancy that Guido Andries filled with success. His workshop in Antwerp soon delivered tiles and maiolica to abbeys, castles, and houses of nobles. Together with his sons, he laid the foundations for the maiolica tile production in The Netherlands. Not only in Antwerp but also in Mechelen?, Brugge (c. 1539), Gent (c. 1534), and Bergen op Zoom (c. 1517), pottery workshops opened. If the other workshops also produced tiles is unclear, but the workshop of Lucas Raymondts in Bergen op Zoom likely produced tiles, as some exciting pieces are excavated there. Back to Guido Andries and his sons, all of them continued in their father’s footsteps. Lucas and Guido II took over the Antwerp business in 1562. Jasper settled in Norwich, England (1567). Jasper moved to Middelburg (1564), but after a couple of years, joined his brother in England. Last, Frans moved back to the Mediterranean and opened a workshop in Seville (1556). Therefore, we see Antwerp designs on Spanish tiles! In the Northern parts of the Netherlands, we don’t see workshops open until 1560 in Haarlem by Cornelis Hendricksz Vroom, and Adriaen Bogaerts (1568) and a small production in Utrecht circa 1558 by an unknown potter from Antwerp. 

Meanwhile, the political landscape changed. From 1543, all of the Netherlands is now part of the Spanish Empire. #Interesting Fact: ‘These Habsburg Netherlands were also known as the Seventeen Provinces.’ Due to the many wars the Spanish or Holy Roman Empire was in, the tax burden on the wealthy Netherlands became heavier and heavier. Also, the disproportionately harsh persecution of Protestants caused bad blood in the Netherlands that led to the Beeldenstorm in 1566, and from 1568 on, the Netherlands was in open rebellion against the Spanish crown. Many battles passed, and in 1581, eight of the seventeen Provinces signed the Act of Abjuration: The declaration of independence of the provinces of the Netherlands from their allegiance to King Philip II of Spain. #Interesting Fact: ‘Did you know that this Declaration of Independence was the basis for the American Declaration of Independence? And that the Dutch helped the United States financially in the first years of their independence? The total amount of the loans was 30.5 million guilders, which in today’s money is equivalent to 22 billion US dollars!’ Between 1581 and 1585, Spain conquered the most southern parts of the Netherlands and with the Fall of Antwerp on August 17, 1585, after a siege of more than 14 months, a lot changed. The Golden Age of Antwerp ended and of the 100,000 inhabitants, only 40,000 remained. 60,000 moved to the Northern Netherlands, England, or Germany. By 1588, the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch Republic) (Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden) was a fact, and from this point forward, there was a clear division between the Northern (Dutch Republic) and Southern (Spanish) Netherlands.

All this war and instability led to another shift of the European economic center to the Dutch Republic, which became the wealthiest nation in the world: The Dutch Golden Age. Many craftsmen, including many potters, moved or fled to the Dutch Republic during this period. In almost every larger city of the Dutch Republic, potters settled and workshops opened: Amsterdam (1584), Delft (1594), Deventer (1624), Dordrecht (1586), Enkhuizen (1608), Gouda (1621), Haarlem (1598), Harlingen (1598 or 1608), Hoorn (1615), Leiden (1616), Rotterdam (1608), and Utrecht (1616). 

Enough about politics, back to the potteries. Almost every major city had pottery workshops by the second quarter of the 17th century. These workshops were usually located inside the city between the normal houses. The most important requirement was that they were established near a waterway for the supply of the necessary clay and fuel for the ovens. This was also necessary for the transport of finished products. Water was also important in case of a fire. In the course of the 17th century, we see that potters settled just outside or on the edge of the city, probably because of the fire hazard. It is remarkable that only the city of Amsterdam drew up a regulation in 1597 that prohibited the practice of the profession of potter (in the broadest sense of the word) within the city walls. The Amsterdam potters moved to the abandoned Carthusian monastery outside the city.

Amsterdam in this case, expanded very quickly during the early 17th century, and soon, the potteries would be part of the city again. Still, the names of the streets, not only in Amsterdam but also in other cities, remind us that workshops were located there once. For example, the Tichelstraat (tile street), pottenbakkerspad (pottery path), pottenbakkerssteeg (pottery alley), pottenbakkersbrug (pottery bridge), and so on. All reminders of a craft that once flourished in our beautiful cities.

Next up: Dutch tiles, where were they used?!

Literature:

Amsterdamse tegel in de vroege Gouden Eeuw – Peter Sprangers (2021)
Antwerps? Antwerps! – Frans Caignie (2004)
Galeyers – Ghaleyersch werk, Biekorf Jaargang 71 – Antoon Viaene (1970)
Majolicavondsten in en om Leiden – Dingeman Korf (1970)
Nederlandse Majolica 1550 – 1650, schotels en tegels – Dr. Pieter Biesboer (1997)
North Netherlands Maiolica of the Sixteenth Century – ‘Maiolica in the North: The Archaeology of Tin-glazed Earthenware in North-West Europe c. 1500-1600’, British Museum Occasional Paper no. 122 – J. M. Baart (1999)
Op zoek naar Haarlemse 17e eeuwse tegels – Peter Sprangers (2021)
Opgravingen achter de oude gasfabriek, Bergen op Zoom – Marco Vermunt (2024)
Utrechtse tegels 1600 – 1900 – Peter Sprangers (2013)