Holland (The Netherlands), ca. 18th century CE. This is a square tile in the Delft style, with applied white glaze and decorated with blue metallic oxides. The design on this tile appears to show a hummingbird perched on a branch with small geometric designs around the edges. The hummingbird is an interesting element on the tile; hummingbirds are New World species and the maker of this tile probably would have never seen the animals in person. However, European naturalists were beginning to publish monographs on New World fauna and flora -- the maker of this tile may have seen the hummingbird in Historia Rerum Naturalium Brasiliae by George Marcgrave, published in Amsterdam in 1648, or in Eberhard Werner Happel's Mundus Mirabilis Tripartitus (1689). Size: 5.5" W x 5.5" H (14 cm x 14 cm).

Provenance: Ex- Estate of M. Reiniger, Chicago, IL

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#111482

The tile has had one corner reattached with the break visible, but it does not impact the artwork. There is chipping to the edges, but, again, no impact to the artwork.