Museum Lambert van Meerten shows a large collection of tiles, that contributes strongly to the character of the museum. A number of walls is literally covered with tiles.
Study collection
Almost all varieties from the Northern Netherlands from the 16th to the 19th century are represented in this comprehensive collection. The tiles used to belong to Jan Schouten. They were obtained for the museum by Miss I.C.E. Peelen, the first female director of a state museum in the Netherlands.
Topics
Besides the decorative tiles and the tableaus, many tiles show independent topics. The pictures vary from children playing, animals, birds and sea monsters, to flowers, scenes from the bible, ships and warriors. The different series usually have the figures in the corners of the tiles in common. Spiders, French lilies, Chinese signs, waves and small cow horns were often used.
Highlights
The highlights of the collection are the Tulip tiles, made after example of a tulip book by Judith Leyster, a pupil of Frans Hals, and the big tableau in the central hall. This tablet represents the battle of La Hogue in 1692 (between the French and a combined fleet of the Dutch and the English) and was painted by the famous Rotterdam painter Cornelis Bouwmeester.
