Blue and White Ceramic Tile from an 18th Century Oven – Johann Jakob Hofmann

Handpainted Oven Tile
Attributed to
Johann Jakob Hofmann

Hofmann, Johann Jakob

This handpainted blue and white tile (ofenkachel) from a ceramic tiled stove (kachelofen) is attributed on the reverse to the Swiss German landscape and “oven painter” (ofenmaler) Johann Jakob Hofmann.

Large tile covered ceramic ovens were an important detail of 18th Century homes. Nobility and the Haute Bougoisie competed to outdo one another in the elaborate designs on the times. Many artists of the period supplemented their incomes by working as “ofenmaler” – the painters of ovens.

The tile has been mounted in a wooden frame to hang on the wall.