# What do you think this painted tile depicts? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 10, 2024, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-this-painted-tile-depicts/1010043 "2024-11-10T20:32:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-this-painted-tile-depicts/1010043/41 "2024-11-11T23:58:27Z")
Great find! I do think the hypothesis that these were done by children, or at least non-skilled laypersons as one-offs, based on some sort of template image and directed painting technique, is probably the correct answer. Here’s another one with a more abstract “cow” that looks like some sort of mythical beast. There’s so many similarities though. > **[Antique Dutch Delft tile in blue with a cow, 18th century](https://www.regtsdelfttiles.com/antique-dutch-delft-tile-in-blue-with-a-cow-18th-century.html)** > > Very decorative original Delft blue tile depicting a cow resting in the grass. The tile dates from the 18th century and is decorated with 'spider' corner patterns. It is in a great condition, without restorations but with a minor crack in the glaze... This one is a different scene, but it shows a similar technique in what appear to be flags atop the sailing ships on the left. > **[Antique 18th C Delft Tile "Harbor Scene" Corner Motif "Spider" | eBay](https://www.ebay.com/itm/387087779610)** > > 130 x 130 x 8 mm. Fair antique condition. Similarly: > **[Antique 18th C Delft Tile "Sailor" Corner Motif "Spider" | eBay](https://www.ebay.com/itm/387087719389)** > > 130 x 130 x 8 mm. Fair antique condition. The anthropomorphic screaming buildings are very common. > **[18TH CENTURY DELFT CERAMIC TILE DEPICTING FARMER & COW | eBay](https://www.ebay.com/itm/176607399838)** > > There is a large scratch that runs down the front of the tile. Period: 18th Century. Far East: £18.00. “18th century Delft cow tile” turns up a fair number of similar images on Google, so I’m confident those are two sailing ships on the left, a very common motif. As for the fence/plow/wagon, I didn’t come across anything similar enough to really say for sure. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-this-painted-tile-depicts/1010043/42 "2024-11-12T00:16:37Z")
Now I want one. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-this-painted-tile-depicts/1010043/43 "2024-11-12T00:39:30Z")
> [@jjakucyk](#): > > I do think the hypothesis that these were done by children, or at least non-skilled laypersons as one-offs, based on some sort of template image and directed painting technique, is probably the correct answer. Per my lengthy writeup above, I disagree strongly and believe it far more likely this is one of the millions of these tiles that were mass produced rather than one from a relative handful that might have been made by amateurs. For one, there’s just statistical likelihood. For another, the kinds of materials and production methods necessary to create such a tile would not have been readily available to the casual layperson. Your typical 17th century village just didn’t have a “paint your own pottery” workshop for the kids like nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-this-painted-tile-depicts/1010043/44 "2024-11-12T00:46:29Z")
Why do you assume that tile dates from the seventeenth century? All we know is that it was purchased about fifteen years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-this-painted-tile-depicts/1010043/45 "2024-11-12T02:16:27Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Why do you assume that tile dates from the seventeenth century? Maybe a misremembering of the OP’s remark that the tag on the tile at time of purchase dated it to around 1740? ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-this-painted-tile-depicts/1010043/46 "2024-11-12T04:39:27Z")
My first thought at viewing the tile is that the wooden construct to the left of the cow is a stile, which is a structure or opening in a fence to allow someone to pass from one side to the other. I remember a little poem I read as a child about a crooked man who crossed a crooked stile. Obviously, this is a clear example of a crooked stile. Next to a hideously deformed cow. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-this-painted-tile-depicts/1010043/47 "2024-11-12T06:20:23Z")
On the one hand, we have a well-established, well-known historical industry that produced millions of exactly this kind of tile, thousands of which survive and are still in circulation, including some with very similar designs. On the other hand, we have the proposition that some modern amateur managed to produce a compelling single replica of one of these historical tiles, and that their personal artwork ended up being offered for sale in a shop as if it were one of those historical tiles. Occam’s Razor. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-this-painted-tile-depicts/1010043/48 "2024-11-12T07:21:16Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Why do you assume that tile dates from the seventeenth century? The one I linked to is certainly being sold as from the 18th C (not 17th). Given its stylistic similarity to the OP’s cow, I’m going to say that settles it, unless you’re alleging outright fraud by what seems a fairly reputable seller (it’s not like these are rare finds. Like @Cervaise said, _millions_ were made.) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-this-painted-tile-depicts/1010043/49 "2024-11-12T08:25:34Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Your typical 17th century village just didn’t have a “paint your own pottery” workshop for the kids like nowadays. No, but they did have child labour, so it may be true that the tile was painted by a child. Or it might just be that they were painted in incredible haste, if the worker was paid on the basis of pieces produced. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-this-painted-tile-depicts/1010043/50 "2024-11-12T09:08:37Z")
Or - they had different aesthetic sensibilities and these were considered “good enough” for lower middle-class sink backsplashes, or wherever they ended up being used. Or that particular style of weird-faced cattle was deeply symbolic to them at the time - maybe it represents their greatest historic enemy, the Hapsburgs or something. I mean, there’s a certain [Charles II](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_Spain)-ishness about [that weird face](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prognathism#Mandibular_prognathism_(progenism)). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-this-painted-tile-depicts/1010043/51 "2024-11-12T09:13:54Z")
A lot of Delft ceramic decoration was derivative of imported pottery from Japan and China. There is a Japanese mythical beast that may be the inspiration for these Dutch cow decorations… > **[Kudan (yōkai)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudan_(y%C5%8Dkai))** > > The kudan (件, literally "matter"; or "human-faced bovine") is a yōkai of a "prophecy beast" type, whose news or urban legend has been disseminated in Japan since the Edo Period. > The human-faced, bovine-bodied kudan that allegedly appeared in "Mount Kurahashi", Tango Province (in today's Kyoto Prefecture) in the year Tenpō 7 (1836) was reported in a contemporary kawaraban \[ja\].\[a\] It predicted bountiful harvest in the ensuing years, and instructed people to paste up the picture image of itself fo... ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-this-painted-tile-depicts/1010043/52 "2024-11-12T09:34:07Z")
Except the earliest attestation of a _kudan_ post-dates these tiles. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-this-painted-tile-depicts/1010043/53 "2024-11-12T09:40:19Z")
How reliable are the dates of the tiles? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-this-painted-tile-depicts/1010043/54 "2024-11-12T10:07:00Z")
I’m pretty sure for the ones sold by legit antique sellers, probably within a few years of what they say. Not the 60+ year difference there. Also, the 1800s is well after the heyday of Delftware. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-this-painted-tile-depicts/1010043/55 "2024-11-12T10:58:49Z")
There were also later (still antique) periods in which those styles were revived. It is very common for reproductions, particularly reproductions that happened during such a revival, to be attributed to the dates of the earlier period, particularly by people selling them. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-this-painted-tile-depicts/1010043/56 "2024-11-12T10:59:15Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > they did have child labour, so it may be true that the tile was painted by a child. > > Or it might just be that they were painted in incredible haste Both can be true, of course. It’s easy to imagine a 12 or 13 year old laborer sitting hunched over a work table cranking out their quota of ten tiles per hour, or whatever, on pain of being cuffed about the head by an angry foreman for failing to deliver. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-this-painted-tile-depicts/1010043/57 "2024-11-12T12:28:38Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > There were also later (still antique) periods in which those styles were revived. The only major Dutch revival I’m aware of was 20th C. I think that misattributing those as 17th C would be fraud. Plus, as has been said - hundreds of million of tiles were produced, some Dutch houses still have originals, so it’s not like the source of period tiles has completely dried up. They still are found by the [hundreds](https://www.regtsdelfttiles.com/blog/where-do-you-still-find-those-antique-dutch-delft-tiles.html) in [renovations](https://www.regtsdelfttiles.com/blog/a-hidden-17th-century-tiled-wall-revealed.html)/demolitions. Sure, some sellers might mis-date their wares. But there’s also quite a lot of actual, attributed stuff out there, with documented provenance by reputable suppliers. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-this-painted-tile-depicts/1010043/58 "2024-11-12T15:24:11Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > The only major Dutch revival I’m aware of was 20th C There have been other revivals and phases of reproduction pretty much continuously from the 17th century onwards, not necessarily taking place in the Netherlands; for example there were reproductions of Dutch delft traditions that started coming from China, in the 19th century. > [@MrDibble](#): > > Plus, as has been said - hundreds of million of tiles were produced, some Dutch houses still have originals, so it’s not like the source of period tiles has completely dried up. They still are found by the [hundreds](https://www.regtsdelfttiles.com/blog/where-do-you-still-find-those-antique-dutch-delft-tiles.html) in [renovations](https://www.regtsdelfttiles.com/blog/a-hidden-17th-century-tiled-wall-revealed.html)/demolitions. Not in dispute. The human-faced-cow tiles are the ones to consider, not _every_ tile. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-this-painted-tile-depicts/1010043/59 "2024-11-12T15:36:03Z")
However, there is a precedent for animals being depicted with weirdly human features in prior European art, so there is no particular reason that these human-faced cows would need to be linked to the Japanese myth by anything more than coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2024, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-this-painted-tile-depicts/1010043/60 "2024-11-12T15:57:18Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > There have been other revivals and phases of reproduction pretty much continuously from the 17th century onwards For tiles, specifically? You have a cite for that? > [@Mangetout](#): > > The human-faced-cow tiles are the ones to consider Then find any tile in a similar style of definitively non-18th C Dutch provenance. All the ones I can find are rather convincingly attributed to then and there (and stylistically match). Lots of jars, plates etc, in that style but not Dutch, not seeing a lot of tiles though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-this-painted-tile-depicts/1010043.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-this-painted-tile-depicts/1010043.md?page=4)