The oriental ceramic collection comprises 1699 pieces of earthenware, stoneware and porcelain dating from about 2000 BC until the early twentieth century.

Van Tilburg[2] bequeathed his collection of Eastern and European ceramics, furniture, paintings, graphic works, carpets and metal ware to the University of Pretoria on 19 November 1976.

Celadons are characterised by the semi-translucent green glaze, which varies in colour from a pale grey-green to a deep olive-green.

There are also a number of Imperial Japanese pieces in the collection, among them a blue-and-white Arita gendi with Arabian ormolu mouldings, an early 19th-century blue-and-white Arita charger decorated with a floral still life and pomegranates, a large blue-and-white vase decorated with priests and flowers, and many polychrome pieces of Japanese porcelain, such as a number of Imari tea sets and plates and a Kakeimon plate from about 1650 decorated with eight panels and a landscape.

The Van Tilburg Collection has many Swatow pots, bowls, plates and chargers representing all the different decoration styles.