J A van Tilburg Collection, often reflects the taste of the collector and thus also the spirit of its time. Collectors’ taste often develops in phases. Initially they might buy later and more decorative pieces, which have obvious charm but are of lesser aesthetic interest. Afterwards they turn to earlier pieces of quality, gradually refining their selection and expanding their knowledge until they assemble a remarkable collection, which is a joy to posterity. This was exactly the case with the collector of the J A van Tilburg Collection, which was bequeathed to the University of Pretoria on 19 November 1976.

(Source: web.up.ac.za)