Van Tilburg Collection
South Africa · Africa
About
The Van Tilburg Collection is an art collection at the University of Pretoria that comprises 17th and 18th century furniture, paintings, Delft ceramics and other works of art, and includes the largest South African collection of Chinese ceramic objects. The oriental ceramic collection comprises 1699 pieces of earthenware, stoneware and porcelain dating from about 2000 BC until the early twentieth century.
J.A. Van Tilburg bequeathed his collection of Eastern and European ceramics, furniture, paintings, graphic works, carpets and metal ware to the University of Pretoria on 19 November 1976. This collection includes Chinese ceramics dating from 2000 BC, furniture dating from 1100 AC, several European paintings and vases from the Kangxi Emperor's personal collection.
Examples of Chinese ceramics from the Qin (221-206 BC), Han (202 BC – AD 220), Tang (AD 618-906), Song (AD 960-1279), Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1912) dynasties can be seen in this collection. There are also examples of Japanese Arita and Imari porcelain and Annamese (Vietnamese) ceramics, as well as 63 examples of early Delft earthenware. It includes plates, garnitures and flowerpots. In addition, there are three panels with 50 17th-century Delft tiles.
Among the older pieces in the collection of Tang funerary wares there is a beige amphora with dragon handles, a typical polychrome figure of Ch'I-t'ou with an animal head and a 'three-colour' (green/brown/yellow) phoenix head pilgrim's flask. There are Tang lokapala tomb guardians of Fang-Hsiang standing on a reclining bull. These guardians are made partly in human and partly in animal form, and kept evil spirits away from the tombs of the dead. One of the Tang wares is a dark brown early pot, which was originally given to a Taoist monastery by Emperor Taizong of the Tang dynasty to commemorate his victory over the Eastern Turks in AD 630.
The Van Tilburg Collection contains a representative collection of Song wares: many Celadons, a few Ding wares, nine Cizhou wares and a few Junyao wares. Celadons are characterised by the semi-translucent green glaze, which varies in colour from a pale grey-green to a deep olive-green. Junyao wares are unmistakable due to their blue, purple and crimson colours. There are seven Junyao items in the collection.
Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.