Page 47 - Zhangzhou Or Swatow The Collection of Zhangzhou Ware at the Princessehof Museum, Leeuwarden, Netherlands

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The mounted Zhangzhou Plate at Schloss Favorite, Rastatt,
Germany

Only very few complete Zhangzhou porcelains are preserved in historical European collections. A beautifully
mounted blue and white dish is one of the most splendid pieces of the collections in Schloss Favorite, Rastatt,
Germany.

The large plate of blue and white Zhangzhou, of a hight of 10,3 cm and a diameter of 42,9 cm, is painted in the
center with a standing phoenix, surrounded by peonies and rocks, the border with eight large and eight small
panels, filled with sprays and – the narrow ones – with pendant “jewels”. the outline and wash style, with in
the center a phoenix in a garden setting with lingzhi, under the rim eight large and eight narrow panels, filled
with flowers and auspicious objects, painted in colbalt blue in the “outlines and wash” style.

The dish is mounted on the rim and around the foot ring in gold – and silver, South Germany or Bohemia, ca.
1665-1690.

The dish belonged to the collection of margrave Herman von Baden (1628-1691), and is preserved in Schloss
Favorite near Rastatt, Germany, one of the oldest German “Porcelain Palaces”, and one of the very few
historical collections of Chinese porcelain collections still housed at its original place. It comprises blue and
white , mostly of the Kraak style, Dehua (Blanc de Chine) and Yixing stoneware, a collection of 368 pieces.

The palace itself was probably built around 1710/11 by the margravine Sybilla Augusta von Baden-Baden (1675-
1733).

Chinese porcelain at Sybilla Augustas Favorite was “used”. An inventory from the year 1691 mentions together
with the plate a ewer, which did not survive. The combination – together with the mounting – suggests, that
the plate was used as a lavabo.

Ref.: Grosse 1998

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