Page 12 - Zhangzhou Or Swatow The Collection of Zhangzhou Ware at the Princessehof Museum, Leeuwarden, Netherlands

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The Present Study: New Light on the Princessehof Collection of
Zhangzhou (Swatow) ware

The present study will present a new interpretation of the Princessehof collection. It will critically summarize
research done so far, often published in remote and not easily accessible sources, particularly in Chinese and
Japanese language.

Most of this knowledge was not available when Barbara Harrisson published the results of her research in 1979
and 1995 respectively.

Three important fields of new knowledge will be considered:.

1. During the 1990’s, the kilns, where “Swatow” was produced, were discovered and excavated around
Zhangzhou, Fujian province. New knowledge about the methods of production and technology came
to light. By having located the kiln sites the term ”Swatow”, by which to this wares was referred,
seems misleading, and should be replaced by the term “Zhangzhou ware”.

2. Shipwrecks carrying Zhangzhou ware
In the last two decades, a number of shipwrecks containing a load of Zhangzhou ware were salvaged.
Shipwrecks are important for dating and can point to the role Zhangzhou ware played as a trade good
in the inter Asian and international trade.

3. Recent publications
The developments mentioned above lead to new research of existing collections, followed by a
number of publications. Material from Indonesia and the Philippines was published by Adhyatman and
Tan respectively; Cricks catalogue covers a private collection of Chinese export ceramics, collected
in Southeast Asia, which includes numbers of Zhangzhou wares. Canepa’s research and book for Jorge
Welch summarised important information; Sargent included the Zhangzhou pieces he had acquired for
the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass. USA, into his monumental work on Chinese export
ceramics; Stroeber published a choice of Zhangzhou pieces from the Princessehof collection as part of
Ming export ware for the inter-Asian markets.

Ref.: Adhyatman 1999; Canepa 2006; Tan 2007 ; Crick 2010 ; Sargent 2012; Stroeber 2013

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