Tile Panel with Tulips, anonymous, c. 1600 - c. 1630

maiolica, h 25.5cm × w 64cm × t 2.5cm More details

These tiles date from a period when tulips were exceptionally costly in the Netherlands; speculation in tulip bulbs resulted in the first economic bubble. The flowers are painted with remarkable precision and resemble portrayals of tulips in botanical books. The striking distribution of the depiction over two tiles is why they are thought to have been used as a frieze or as a plinth along the wall.