Born (1913) and reared in the Netherlands, Ella Schaap (née Sanders) came to the U.S. to attend college in the early 1930s. Diverted from her educational goals, she married Dolf Schaap in 1934 and returned to Europe eventually giving birth to their three daughters. In the 1940s the couple arrived back in the States settling in Philadelphia where it wasn’t long before Ella began volunteering at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
In the late 1970s the estate of Francis P. Garvan, who along with his wife Mabel, were major collectors of decorative arts, began donating the couple’s vast collection of Delft tiles to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. With Dutch being Ella’s native language along with her comprehensive knowledge of her country’s history, she was chosen to assist in the research, Ella Schaap has authored three books: Dutch Tiles in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (1984); Dutch Floral Tiles in the Golden Age (1994); and Delft Ceramics at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (2006) along with many articles while overseeing numerous museum installations and exhibitions. In 2007, Ella Schaap was knighted by the queen of the Netherlands for her work on Dutch culture. She died at her home in Newtown, Pennsylvania on July 10, 2021. She was 108. cataloguing and conservation of these historic ceramic gems. In addition, she became an advocate for the continuing prominence of Dutch tile displays in the museum, always seeking out new sources to enhance the institution’s collections.
Award artist: Irene de Watteville, THF Board Member Emeritus
Irene de Watteville was born in the Alsace region of France. Sitting on her grandmother’s tiled stove started her love for tiles. In 1963 she moved to Boston where she completed a four-year diploma at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts, majoring in painting and graphic art. In 1983 she became interested in making tiles in the style of European 17th and 18th century majolica. She joined the board of directors of the Tile Heritage Foundation in 1998 and retired from the board in 2021.