Rozenburg Den Haag, tile plates Gerke Henkes, 1886. Two unique and rare tile plates “Pipe smoking man” and Reading man”, painted by Gerke Henkes in 1886. In original Rozenburg oak dovetail profile frame. The tile plates are 17.5 cm by 25 cm and the frames 33.5 cm by 40.5 cm. Gerke Henkes (1844- 1927) was a Dutch painter in the style of the Hague School and a relation of H.W. Mesdag. Henkes was one of the painters who were more or less under the patronage of Mesdag painted tile plates in a joint studio in the attic of the Rozenburg factory, later also with copies of mainly Dutch masters. This group of experienced painters was later gradually ‘relieved’ by experienced pottery painters from the factory itself.
Because work order numbers were only used from 1889 onwards, they are missing from these plates. They are unique pieces from the earliest Rozenburg period. In addition to production damage, the factory fire of September 18/19, 1887 also caused a lot of archive loss. An explanation of the numbers 5 and 6 on the back of the tile plates is that in the earliest period Rozenburg supplied tile plates to order, including for office and ship interiors. Rotterdamsche Lloyd, for example, was a regular customer.
