Tobacco jar by Tichelaar

January 2017

A century ago the Frisian people still had some preference for vainglory. This magnificent tobacco jar executed in Delft's palette, but made in Friesland, bears witness to this. This historicizing jar comes from the Tichelaar factory in Makkum, a Delft ware factory founded in 1699. The tobacco jar came about at a time when the traditional work, based on examples from times gone by, became popular with a growing group of gentlemen farmers and urban middle-class people. For this reason, Tichelaar kept the old craftsmanship alive with painter Jacobus ten Zweege junior as one of the most talented workers. Around 1900, Zweege supplied the most refined Delft style painting. The jar, a faithful copy of a silver Louis XIV jar, is decorated with rural scenes of a homestead, a shepherd, hunters and sheep in the field on the flat sides. The spaces in between are filled with beautiful ornamentation. The fine paintwork is Delft rather than Frisian in tradition, but the maker's mark with a TT monogram on the bottom of this pot clearly betrays the origin. This brand is not typically Frisian either, but is inspired by the factory brand of the famous Meissen Porzellan works. It is a wonderful and unexpected brand imitation that hardly had any interest for the Frisian consumer. After the First World War, this model of tobacco jar is still in production at Tichelaar, but the paintwork soon becomes coarser, while colour is added to the decoration. The Amsterdam Pipe Museum is enthusiastic about this jar because it represents the pinnacle of Frisian historicism in terms of shape and painting.

Amsterdam Pipe Museum APM 22.212

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