Page 19 - Zhangzhou Or Swatow The Collection of Zhangzhou Ware at the Princessehof Museum, Leeuwarden, Netherlands

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Zhangzhou Ware with Decoration in Underglaze Cobalt Blue

Most objects in the collection of Zhangzhou ware in the Princessehof Museum are painted in underglaze cobalt
blue. Blue and white Zhangzhou porcelain was produced in enormous quantities and is best represented in
th
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museum collections. In the 16 and 17 century, while blue and white porcelain of the Kraak style was made in
enormous quantities, to be exported to the West, Zhangzhou blue and white was most popular in Southeast
Asia as well as in Japan.

The cobalt used for the designs has a wide range, from silvery blue, rich blue, even purplish, to a dry black.

The shapes include large dishes, jars and jarlets and boxes, and the designs are varied.
Barbara Harrisson in her pioneering work from 1979 on “Swatow” in the Princessehof collection suggested
two groups for blue and white designs, the “simple style “ and the “complex style”. In her later study she
diversified her categories into the “conservative family”, “persistent family” and “versatile family”. The
“conservative family” includes designs applied directly and with a rather big brush, without outlining the motifs.
The designs are often stylized. With the term “persistent family” Harrisson referred to designs with outlines
filled with wash, used over a long period of time. The group called “versatile family” includes different styles in
a later production period.

Crick in her catalogue and study from 2010 again diversified Harrissons “families” and attempts on the basis of
new archaeological material, marine as well as land-, to develop a tentative stylistic system for Zhangzhou blue
and white wares.

This classification is useful and practical; however, as Crick emphasises, the recovery of new archaeological
material could lead to a further modification of this system.

1.“Sketchy decoration”

GRV 1929-319

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