Chinese Ceramics

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In the past, researchers who studied ceramics tended to focus on the imitation of marbled ware in the pattern, or to incorporate it into the lead-glazed pottery system to be discussed. Research focused on marbled ware is relatively rare so far, and the value of historical data is still potential to be explored. In addition, in the newly unearthed archaeological information in recent years, marbled ware is widely found in tombs and ruins in East Asia. However, the use of this batch of materials and the export route have not been systematically studied.

In this research, we will first investigate the unearthed materials and related documents, then organize the marbled ware collections of museums in various countries to build a systematic research database. Furthermore, by comparing the styles of each type, this research will try to illustrate the relationship between the production time period and evolution of each type of marbled ware.

After sorting out the basic information of marbled ware in the Tang and Song dynasties, this article will also study the foreign trade status of marbled ware, the class of users and the group of sponsors, and its special significance in religion and political rights. By comprehensively analyzing the historical information revealed by marbled ware, this research will try to restore its context of use during the Tang and Song Dynasties.

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The article discusses the presence of a single ceramic bowl of chinese origin from the castle of Methoni, in southwestern Peloponnese. The sherd belongs to the type of marbled ware and can be dated from the T’ang dynasty (6th-9th century A.D.), and more probably from the end of the 8th-beginning of the 9th century.

The Flying Fish Wreck derives its name from the freely painted decoration in the centre of one of the first finds, a large stoneware basin. The graceful gliding flying fish design is known from the Cizao kilns of Fujian Province, China, but it has ever been seen in a shipwreck cargo before.

The wreck lies just south of Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah, East Malaysia. This report is the outcome of an archaeological excavation conducted in conjunction with the Sabah Museum. Maritime archaeologist, Dr Michael Flecker, concludes that the Flying Fish Wreck is a Southeast Asian lashed-lug ship, following a shipbuilding tradition that lasted for over a thousand years. She has been dated to the first quarter of the 12th century, corresponding to the late Northern Song dynasty, when the Chinese export trade was flourishing. Most of the ceramics cargo was manufactured in Fujian province, suggesting that Quanzhou was the port of embarkation. The ship followed the eastern route down the South China Sea bound for northwest Borneo. Dr Tai Yew Seng, a Chinese ceramics specialist, contributes a comprehensive analysis of every ceramic type excavated from the wreck. Non-ceramic artefacts include wrought and cast iron, and lead ingots and rings, along with ship’s equipment, personal belongings, and one of the original voyagers, whose bones survived deep inside the wreckage.

The penba hu is a vessel of unique appearance first produced in the 17th century. Much of its origins are shrouded in mystery and this thesis aims to uncover its various functions and significance as a ritual object. Originally cast from metal, silver and gilt copper penba hu from the Tibetan plateaus have been found. The vessel likely found its way to the Qing Empire as a diplomatic gift and was reproduced during the Qianlong reign in its altered porcelain form. The role of the penba hu in ablution rituals changed when the porcelain penba hu was produced without an aspergil, however, it is still used for initiation rituals. Here, the lama prays to a particular deity, inviting it into the penba hu. This act of calling the deity is assisted by the makara, which facilitates the channelling of the gods. Pairing of penba hu is noted to apply to both porcelain and metal variants. Coloured pairs of porcelain penba hu support this theory and textual evidence points to the pairs serving different functions within the initiation ritual. The kendi is also used in conjunction with the penba hu in rituals within the Yonghegong temple. It is difficult to determine the material of the penba hu from the evidence available. Conflicting with the idea of the two vessels functioning together is the hypothesis that the kendi is a preceding version of the kendi. Studying the change over time in rituals involving the Avalokitesvara deity suggests that the introduction of the penba hu phased out the use of the kendi. The importance of the penba hu is highlighted by initiation rituals using the vajra and its appearance in thangka, resting next to other critical ritual objects. Extensive use of the penba hu with these objects points to its significance in Tibetan Buddhist rituals. Based on the gathered evidence, it is conceivable to argue that it is as important is as the vajra.  Knowledge of the origins and functions of the vessel is still far from complete and this thesis aims to be a catalyst for more research to be conducted on this subject matter.

In May 1936 the steamship Sorrento sailed into the port of Piraeus, Greece. Aboard were sixteen crates with 452 items of Chinese pottery, destined to join another 341 already on display at the Benaki Museum in Athens. Over the past nine years the museum’s founder, Antonis Benakis, had been in contact with their donor, Greek-origin British businessman George Eumorfopoulos. His Chinese art collection was one of the most extensive the world had ever seen. In bestowing this gift, Eumorfopoulos wanted to introduce Greeks to the art of China through its best-known medium at the time, ceramics.

The years after the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1911 witnessed an ‘opening up’ of China and the first archaeological excavations of its ancient cultures. A circle of enthusiasts and scholars, among which Eumorfopoulos was pivotal, grasped the opportunity to evaluate anew long-held preconceptions on Chinese civilisation. Situated in London, a centre of imperialist power and global finance, they acquired, assessed, and interpreted previously-unseen and fascinating objects. In addition, Eumorfopoulos acted as an intermediary between the contemporary art scene and Chinese antiquities, inspiring modern artists and ‘studio potters’.

China Rediscovered: The Benaki Museum Collection of Chinese Ceramics traces the roles ceramics assumed in this cultural interplay within the context of earlier encounters between China and the rest of the world. A selection of 88 items from the Benaki Museum are perceived as ‘actors’ within constantly evolving ‘sets’, as players in a game of knowledge, taste, and power.

https://www.benakishop.gr/en/books/world-cultures/china-rediscovered-the-benaki-museum-collection-of-chinese-ceramics-387.html
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In the past, academic circles paid more attention to the local kiln production and the trade status of its export porcelain in the research of Fujian ceramics in the Song Dynasty. This article mainly focuses on the investigation of the ceramics unearthed from the Song tombs in Fujian, and then analyzes the local residents' color selection tendency on glazed porcelain, and will pay special attention to the role of Qingbai Ware in it.

This research is arranged into three sections in order to elaborate on the hybrid innovation in yangcai. Firstly, the usage of pictorial techniques on porcelain will be discussed, followed by the argument that the modelling technique in the Qianlong period could be the revival of Buddhist tradition combined with European pictoriality. The second section continues the discussion of non-traditional attributes in terms of the ontology of porcelain patterns. Although it has been widely accepted that Western-style decorations were applied to the production of the Qing porcelain, the other possibility will be purported here by stating that the decorative pattern is a Chinese version of the multicultural product. The last section explores style and identity. By reviewing the history of Chinese painting technique, art historians can realise the difference between knowing and performing. Artworks produced in the Emperor Qianlong's reign were more about Emperor Qianlong's preference than the capability of the artists. This political reason differentiated the theory and practice in Chinese history of art. This essay argues that the design of yangcai is substantially part of the Emperor Qianlong's portrait, which represents his multicultural background, authority over various civilisations, and transcendental identity as an emperor bridging the East and the West.

The last two decades have seen increasing attention to the question of how the Western Zhou bronze inscriptions were produced. The traditional “master-pattern” interpretation has been challenged by the so-called “modelling” technique, which argues that individual characters were modelled from thin lines of clay directly on the inscription block, possibly by the tube lining method. This paper uses the case of the special features of the famous Larger Ke ding inscription to compare the feasibility of the two abovementioned interpretations and argues that the inscription was beyond doubt produced by the “modelling” technique. In the next step, the article identifies several casting flaws that can serve as indicators of the “modelling” technique, such as the “ghost characters”, “intaglio characters with partially relievo strokes”, “displaced strokes” or “missing strokes”. Given the facts that 1) the ductus of the Larger Ke ding inscription is in line with the majority of contemporaneous inscriptions and 2) some of these flaws occur relatively frequently in the Middle and Late Western Zhou inscriptions, this article concludes that “modelling” was indeed the main technique to produce cast bronze inscriptions in Early China between the 10th and 8th centuries BCE. Apart from the significance for the authentication of unprovenanced inscribed bronzes, this conclusion has also important implications for Chinese palaeography: the ancient craftsmen–as pointed out by earlier proponents of the "modelling" interpretation–executed the inscriptions we admire today in mirror writing.

General and scholastic studies have been conducted by Chinese archaeologists, Western scholars of Buddhist studies and art historians on mise wares that reveal the finest quality and aesthetics of the period’s ceramic production. This specific type of celadon has been widely published, especially in the years following the excavation of the crypt of Famensi in 1987, the International Scientific Conference of Yue Kiln and Mi-se-ci Porcelain held in Shanghai in 1995, the intense excavation carried out in kiln sites near Shanglinhu, such as the Housiao yao 後司岙窯 discovered in 2015 and the exhibition Mise Porcelain: Impressive Discovery and Mysterious Tribute held in the Palace Museum Beijing featuring mise ware in celebration of its thirtieth anniversary in 2017. Noticing there is no extant study aiming in contextualizing mise ware in its original setting among the Buddhist objects and reliquaries dedicated to enshrining the finger-bone relics housed in the crypt of the Famensi, now is perhaps a good time to reflect on the current disciplinary constructs and consider “How did mise wares function as Buddhist objects in the Tang dynasty?”

From this comparative analysis it may be reasonably concluded that the Pulau Buaya, Lingga and Flying Fish wrecks are all Southeast Asian lashed-lug ships that sank during the first quarter of the 12th century, at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty (960 to 1127 CE). They were all transporting Chinese ceramics and ironware to Southeast Asian markets. They are sister ships.
Grammatical errors are not those of the author. The last sentence should read: Instead Southeast Asian, Indian and Arab ships made their way to China to exchange their home products, and others they picked up along the way, for Chinese ceramics, ironware and silk.

In the year of 1511, the Portuguese occupied Malacca and turned it into a stronghold through which they penetrated into the traditional trade network in Southeast Asia and sought trade with the Chinese merchants who were traveling actively in the district. In 1521, as the Ming court refused to establish diplomatic relations and bilateral trade with Portugal, trade with the Portuguese was officially banned near the southeast coast of China. Thus, most of the Portuguese merchants had to move to the islands beyond the reach of the Ming government. Since then, they had been increasingly involved in local smuggling and remained active on these islands till the opening of Macau (1553) as a legal trade port for the Portuguese. The details of the Portuguese’s sailing and trade during this period are not so clear due to the limited records in documents and archives, but are traceable through the Chinese porcelain wares that were exported as commodities at the time. Therefore, this paper will study the early porcelain wares traded between China and Portugal to see the trade scale, sailing route and trade methods at the early stage of the Portuguese’s arrival in China. These wares are museum collections and archaeological findings in China, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe. With information on historical records combined, this paper will explore the stories behind the wares to enhance our understanding of the early history of maritime trade between China and Portugal.

The Southeast Asia that the Tang Shipwreck encountered
along its voyage to and from China was a patchwork of vibrant,
diverse cultures. In Cambodia, the Angkorian Empire was
in its formative stages while in Sumatra the maritime power,
Srivijaya, commanded the seas. On the island of Java, Borobudur,
a monumental feat of Buddhist architecture, stood as testament
to the might of the Sailendra dynasty. In Thailand and Myanmar,
powerful cities were emerging. It is into this world that the Tang
Shipwreck sailed – and ultimately sank – on its journey from
China back to the Persian Gulf, in the middle of the ninth century.

We cannot say for certain at how many of ports the Tang
Shipwreck docked. However, it is not unrealistic to imagine
the ship sojourning in at least some of those discussed here, and
exchanging goods, money, and ideas with the peoples it met along
its journey. Ninth-century Southeast Asia was a place of vibrant
commerce and bustling ports, and to this day, remains an integral
part of international maritime trade.

While salvaging a steel barge off Pedra Branca in early 2015, commercial divers noticed intact ceramic plates on the seabed. Samples were brought to the ISEAS – Yusof-Ishak Institute where they were identified as 14th-century Longquan green-ware. An archaeological survey later confirmed an extensive shipwreck site, now designated the Temasek Wreck, with not just green-ware but also blue-and-white porcelain, shufu-ware and qingbai-ware from Jingdezhen, and brown-ware from Guangdong or Cizao in Fujian province. An excavation carried out in stages over four years resulted in the recovery of approximately 4.4 tonnes of ceramics, mostly
shards, and a handful of non-ceramic artefacts. None of the ship’s structure had survived.
Without any hull remains it is impossible to conclusively identify the type of ship. However, from circumstantial evidence such as an exclusive Chinese cargo and an absence of non-Chinese artefacts, there is a high probability that the ship was a Chinese junk. She contained more Yuan dynasty blue-and-white porcelain than any other documented shipwreck in the world. From an analysis of this rare and important cargo element it would seem that the wreck dates between 1340 and 1371. From the location of the wreck, the many parallel finds from Singapore terrestrial sites, and importantly a common dearth of large blue-and-white plates,
the ancient port of Singapore (Temasek) was the most likely intended destination.

Baoping Li 2013, Inscribed Chinese stoneware storage jars from the 14th century Sinan wreck in Korea: the context of Asian ceramic trade and Japanese tea culture, in National Musuem of Korea 2012 Museum Network Fellowship Research Papers, National Museum of Korea, Ed., Seoul, 87-104.

A large collection of excavated material from the port-city of Siraf in Iran is held in the British Museum, London. The material was collected between 1966 and 1973 but only recently catalogued. Among some seventeen thousand pieces of stone, metal, glass and ceramic from the Siraf site, including many Chinese ceramic sherds of the Tang dynasty to the Qing dynasty, is a single shard of Chinese Tang high-fired white stoneware with cobalt-blue decoration. This early blue and white ware is of the ‘blue spotted’ type that can be related to both low-fired and high-fired examples of the Tang dynasty excavated from Gongyi (formerly Gongxian) Henan, China in 2004. The shard can also be compared to a complete high-fired Tang stoneware jar in the University of Hong Kong Museum that is also sparsely decorated with cobalt-blue spots and dashes on a white ground. So far as is known the high-fired Siraf sherd is the only example of Tang dynasty Chinese blue and white found in the Middle East and therefore of prime interest in the study of East-West trade, interactions that may have operated in the ninth century between these two ceramic traditions.

Numerous sherds of Iraqi blue and white earthenware material were also found at Siraf. Most show typical Middle Eastern palmette, floral or calligraphic cobalt-blue painting, but a few used blue spots and blue dashes and appear similar to the Tang blue and white shard itself. Siraf also yielded a number of Chinese white-glazed stoneware sherds decorated with green spots, together with Middle Eastern green-on-white glazed earthenware sherds made in a comparable style.

Middle Eastern blue and white at this time was a short-lived, though highly-prized production and probably made in Iraq from sometime in the 820s onwards, and for less than one hundred years. Surviving examples are mainly bowls of typical ninth century Chinese form. The decoration of Iraqi blue and white however is almost always of Middle Eastern style and this has led scholars to think that blue and white of this period may have been an independent Middle Eastern innovation. Until now this view has been reinforced by the lack of any Chinese Tang dynasty blue and white sherds (whether low fired or high-fired) having been found in the region – unlike the masses of green-on-white glazed Chinese wares excavated at sites such as Samarra and Siraf, and which are widely regarded as having had a strong impact on the development of Middle Eastern ceramics in the later eighth and ninth centuries.

The Chinese shard itself, and the contemporary Middle Eastern shards of ‘spotted’ blue and white found in the same context at Siraf, may mean that this view should be re-assessed, although just where the Iraqi ‘spotted blue’ shards should be placed in the overall chronology of Iraqi blue and white earthenware is still an open question.

In June 2021 the Archaeology Unit of the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute concluded the excavation of a late 18th-century shipwreck off Pedra Branca, a rocky outcrop marking the eastern limit of Singapore Strait. Tonnes of intact Chinese ceramics and shards were recovered, along with
a wide range of artefacts such as zinc ingots, bottles, glass beads, and agate medallions. Parts of the ship’s hull were found, along with rigging, rudder fittings, copper sheathing, cannons, and anchors.
Archival research has led to the conclusive identification of the wreck. She is the Shah Muncher, a European style Country ship constructed in India and operating under license to the British East India Company. Every year from 1790 she voyaged from Bombay to Canton with a primary cargo of cotton, and returned with sugar, zinc, and porcelain. But on 8th January 1796, carrying the heaviest cargo she had ever loaded, the Shah Muncher was forced upon the rocks of Pedra Branca by the current.
The final manifest still exists. While most of the items on the list have been found, including organic materials, many of the recovered artefacts are not on the manifest. Maritime archaeology therefore paints a far more vivid historical picture than texts alone. The Shah Muncher sank twenty-three years before Raffles re-established the port of Singapore. Nonetheless, her cargo provides insights into of the types of goods that were purchased by Singapore’s fledgling community, along with those that would have been transhipped at the new port. The wreck of the Shah Muncher is therefore of great relevance to Singapore’s maritime past.

Niniejsza praca przedstawia związki łączące wyroby z nefrytu, ceramikę seladonową oraz jej naśladownictwa na świecie. Wyroby z nefrytu pełniły różne funkcje w kulturze chińskiej. Wraz z pojawieniem się pierwszych naczyń szkliwionych zaczęto wyrabiać protoseladony, które stopniowo ewoluowały osiągając formę dojrzałej porcelany. Seladony, czyli porcelana o zielonkawym szkliwie, charakteryzowały się bogatym wzornictwem wykonywanym różnymi technikami. Naczynia te chętnie eksportowano do różnych krajów. Charakterystyczne wzornictwo, kształty naczyń oraz struktura szkliw nakładanych na czerepy seladonów tak bardzo zachwyciły odbiorców, że zaczęli oni je naśladować.

Presentation for the the international online conference "Mobility and Materiality in Byzantine-Islamic Relations (7th-12th Centuries)" at the Byzantine Studies Research Centre, Boğaziçi University Istanbul (12-13 November 2021):
http://byzantinestudies.boun.edu.tr/index.php?page=events&id=63