A google search reports that it's definitly blue.
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbs=simg:CAESZRpjCxCo1NgEGgIICgwLELCMpwgaPAo6CAESFN4G1QaGBu8FygbbBt8G-wX4BdwGGiD5Ym3H12d_1tZFYmZedZAFLvtFFZA54-lezVybNVMViCAwLEI6u_1ggaCgoICAESBEtUq68M&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=5iVfUcCIF6zVigL_mIGADQ&ved=0CCsQsw4&biw=1141&bih=832

Otherwise, he looks like he's fishing our water dousing. "The Compleate Angler" is a famous Elizabethan era book and the costume is more of that era or just after. The post with hooks is a puzzle, though.

Perhaps he's measuring something. Seems kind of likely. A surveyor.

Rob

<Edit> This search gets closer: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&bih=832&biw=1141&tbs=sbi%3AAMhZZitU9Wh8o_1ggxzPszueUtl3ac7F5PTYHMYQqG1E-yLLDEAG8MAEUGmFBtnVNJk1Hf7mIHwUQ8foXjSye3f9tknODWBDkA-6nH0v9M9bLM-RCE5FVWrk1Gt9VwRpPlCV7HJeU2-M91Cnb5kaCfd296cGPbopUV7vSXvfDmdWy1AODaDm_1TyZBJ5uoQDeD4lczft6dC6_1T2Ytpgx1g4iRUtk43UC80BJOMs8PyFnVZmdtMkCJS5f-Vhgd3VTLEDlhU0cjnCg3YRzGrYOAQnZImany0WEHFmciGhEMixtkE_19kGSH0F0gtwpCAYHWmWB2XEdYIWcntSWxpXwWY10-7ybN3O9bxDXksIFsHM3KefClnefLc_1IZv2xWZLKvTqdti5FTm1m98Itar4qgqwYr_1jxGn_12ZAE6N5ekcIxgJe9S1SU5UoRKqPs4yBAk9vcsw2cGT6f6N9vBNVSki2bbEJCXaCikkNDG39XUL7vk34e1fn7JElaHzZvBXwzfBqwWQgmGLn6vuGrHSXsjzrMkE1qoeMvuSsv8LZ-zi_1mCRIGsPC4wSGdzQAXSjO6HtaVUMok6ChqF1M_1VOVQKBxfyK1X7ZlxiPMRkHtl3M4p3icKjSeKFu6FLhr91_1R54z67VzLyL4eulLXFVUVXmHsq-v-7fTum4bBLY8Jbaeu5q-cY527MTu5IojoU4-dccx63n8EIqcVr7hoBzw9ozBCxSsUFMdrxBcxRlZdvGGP6AtjjNEi_1C1DwgPPga3PmpbdQRl0w59rpqHCKqhRc1kQT0qP1pc7uhD_1RoEpc_1-H9aALNbvsRczQ-ga5jpWhtQg1gkueWLBlXw0ScN6GTa7mViu8K0Wg_1rgzx-MyKSTJj3Er2Q1sjZ8fCKxgkXzDrNEsZZtNCbnSL6rNRZlQOGSiM8RXNFN0XawNVFQcDKly-KfxRKlHzhoqfUvfsua-tC6iH9p_1-LMbJmy_1g5qtHItzeCZsrSkpSKn1myDqj0Gurmadq50fQDbujDawaMTohbiBW-jxxGYbHs9V8crsVl7IjXLXS_1bgpcJ6whDyBcSS6hV9JSgZS4RbdZYvDwS4-4S6rT4ielbkFmF6aQ9eqZqduyzxBVlxw_1Cy2t8VEpdF1kVqM0YsMFKE_1xePdlJ-DwSBjQ5MtffdHdiPjNwSLtTVvTCa_1OfayEo0tgWVwVkAV079oAIIjl1Zx-lmEY_1WV5_1gOtOgPakUavwN41kt87R3JMDq-OeqkRp_1Ig87Z4JlLWz3Qhe4zUBwdYq9--6kevMtK0lanhqTKOd8Nim0crun4r2GT87VM0p7n0G_1I4PXg2w6pGILlMgODvUs&q=tile&oq=tile&gs_l=serp.3..0j0i20j0l8.3832.5733.0.6459.10.10.0.0.0.0.92.671.10.10.0.eappsweb..0.0...1.1.8.serp.0WEWxvVnbko

Infuriating....

He may be related to Guy Fawkes, in which case you should shut your computer down immediately...

He may be related to Guy Fawkes

Well you don't know how near to the truth you could be.

I'd say that is either a knock-off UK piece based on Dutch Delft ware OR the real thing. It truly looks quite authentic. Those corner embellishments can be seen on authentic Delft from the 17th century. But it appears to be something earlier, maybe 16th century.

And again, just what the "guy" is doing, anybody's guess - fascinating . .

My tuppence worth? He's "laying" hop or vine runs.

G

My guess was early 19th c. English, going by the glaze.
But I'll look at some 17th c. Dutch as well. May have some value?

Testing an electric fence... nope, no shock yet... I guess that's because electricity hasn't been discovered yet...

I found some very similar on eBay. He's carrying something on the order of a hunting snare. Apparently 17th c., and worth over $100 (I paid a buck).

[UPDATE] Rob Michiels, a ceramics dealer in Brugge, has authenticated the tile as being 1600's Delft. I'm thrilled!

Divining for water with one of the wishbone shaped sticks? (Courtesy of my husband, JJ.)

My guess is that he is spinning yarn. The tree-like thing on the right may be meant to be a distaff.

Also, that tile looks a lot older than Victorian to me.

Mark

Mark,
Yes, it is older. At first I thought it was a 19th c. English reproduction, which are fairly common.

But Grazie got me pointed in the right direction. Turns out it's the real thing, Delft from "maybe" 1625-1660.

Yeah, those pantaloons, the strange position of the clogged feet, the quality of the detail and the general demeanour of his stance makes me think of quality and naivety; the white spaces are generous.

My thoughts are that it is a Tin glaze over a dark reddish clay. It's a thoughtful piece but was most likely produced by the ton. Now, if all this is born out then late 16 to early 17 cent is not out of the question.

I'd live to hear the outcome. Always willing to learn and be put in my place if incorrect.

The OTHER possibility, of course, is that this WAS produced in the Far East to be shipped back to Europe. Now THAT'S an altogether another thing!!! The more I think about this, the more I like it. There is just so much quality in the brush work.

Actually, the strange perspective and the almost stylised job-task could be an interpretation by another culture based on what has been heard, rather than a direct observation of a task being carried out.

It's very odd, and consequently interests me.


Grazie

He has obviously just snagged his sweater on a coat hook, and is about to let loose a stream of curse words.

Grazie, you were spot on.
Hi Mark,

I went to Michael's last night and got a little shadow box frame for it; here's how it looks. And to think, I bought the tile for a dollar because I was looking for a trivet!

Nice one Mark. Glad I held out on the Delftware and the 16>17 cent.

This Dutch Golden era allowed ceramic design influences to go back and forth. It was a truly exciting period. What you have on your wall epitomises that period of Dutch influence and trade between the Dutch Far East Indies and their commercial domination just prior to GB about to get busy!

Important tile that!

Grazie

It's obvious, he is skewing giant crabs. There's four more coming.

Yes, and it fits in nicely with my Native American / Musical Theatre decor! J

You've all missed it.

He's stealing copper wire from a telephone pole.

Times were hard back then, too.


P.S. Ever get the feeling that these responses are a sort of Rorschach Test?

He's the very first Roto Rooter guy.
That's all I have to say.

He's obviously holding a 19th century video game console controller and he's plugged directly into a telephone pole.

That's the way we had to do it in the early days of the internetz. Unless you lived near Tesla and were using his wireless ( he wasn't very good with passwords and protecting things. 99% of Edison's patents were stolen from Tesla. )

You know when you walk past a door and it catches on your jersey?

All very plausible, and point to some truly advanced technologies, therefore it is very obvious:

He's a Time Traveller, who, having got locked into 16th Century Utrecht, had this out-of-context figure of himself committed to a Tile so that, maybe, in the centuries to come another Time Traveller would interpret this Time Tile Capsule and send a rescue team.

Grazie

PS, Anybody see the latest Dr Who?

My guess would be he is some type of surveyor with paper, a rope and a measuring rod or pole.

shrugs