Page 22 - Zhangzhou Or Swatow The Collection of Zhangzhou Ware at the Princessehof Museum, Leeuwarden, Netherlands

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Zhangzhou Ware with Decoration in Overglaze Enamels

An important group of Zhangzhou porcelain is decorated in overglaze enamels. The designs were applied over
an often crackled cream-white glaze. Colours used include red, green, turquoise and black for the outlines.

Overglaze technique was of ground breaking significance in the history of ceramic technology. Low firing glazes
were applied to already fired white slipped stonewares or porcelain, and then given a short firing of ca. 800
degrees to mature the enamels and give them a bond with the transparent high temperature glazes beneath.

GRV 1929-120

Although blue and white dominated the production in Zhangzhou, the potters devoted much effort to satisfy
the demand for polychrome porcelain during the late years of the Ming.

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Production seems to have started in Zhangzhou in the late 16 century. Zhangzhou ceramics on the shipwreck
of the San Diego, dated 1600, included only two enamelled pieces, an oblong box and a bowl.

The Binh Thuan junk, which sank around 1608 off the South of Vietnam and was salvaged in 2002, was the first
cargo dedicated of Zhangzhou ware. It included roughly equal numbers of blue and white and overglaze enamel
decorated wares and some pieces combining cobalt underglaze blue and overglaze enamels, mostly dishes,
bowls, jars and boxes. The cargo was for the Southeast Asian or Japanese market.

It seems wares decorated in overglaze enamels were produced in the same kilns which produced blue and
white: Huazilou ( Nansheng), Wuzhai and Wanyaoshan ( Pinghe), Huotian (Yunshao).

Their decorations are related to the Zhangzhou blue and white designs: animals, phoenix, qilin, dragon and fish.

Ref.: Flecker 2002-2003; Canepa 2006

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