Sharing a history of progress
Blue- and- white porcelain is a fine example of the global market in the ancient world. This Chinese ceramic variety gained a global reputation during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and in ensuing centuries became one of the country’s signature products on the flourishing Maritime Silk Road.
Orders from overseas poured into Chinese kilns, and many countries along the trade routes made their own variants.
Reflecting on how this saga began, one thing that stands out is that this made-in-china product is an example of an international supply chain of bygone ages, the raw cobalt pigment initially used to make its amazing blue having come from modern-day Iran.
This is one of the stories told through the 266 cultural artefacts
on display in Historic encounters: Interaction between china and
West asia in history, an exhibition on until April 11 in the Palace Museum in Beijing, also known as the Forbidden City.
“In the blue-and-white porcelain on exhibit are many typical West Asian decorative patterns and inscriptions,” says Ji Luoyuan, the exhibition’s curator and an associate researcher with the museum.
For thousands of years the rise of metallurgy in West Asia greatly influenced its counterpart in China.
“Distinctive West Asian elements thus surfaced on Chinese bronze vessels and weapons, as well as on gold and silver items,” Ji says.
Carved in the shape of dragon head with a pair of turquoise eyes, a Shang Dynasty (c. 16th century-11th century BC) dagger, which displays typical elements from both China and West Asia, hints at the kind of cultural exchanges that occurred across the Eurasian grasslands before recorded history.
Just as bronze, which originated in West Asia and once enriched ancient Chinese civilisation, silk from China may also have shaped the path of development on the other side of the continent.
An ivory sculpture of a silkworm, unearthed from the 5,300-yearold Shuanghuaishu site in Henan province, tells early stories of the silk legend, and other exhibits explain the sequel. “Chinese silk continued to spread westwards, but Chinese artisans also absorbed elements of textiles from West and Central Asia and used them to improve their own patterns and techniques,” Ji says. “The communication was in two directions.”
A group of textiles unearthed in present- day Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region was chosen to directly reflect this mix.
“Ancient artisans in West Asia may not have known silk weaving techniques, but their skill at weaving wool was introduced to China and adopted to make silk pieces.”
In the Tang Dynasty (618-907) Chinese silk borrowed patterns then popular in West Asian textiles, which had a lasting influence on the later development of the silk industry.