Porcelain treasures highlight ancient maritime links
Exhibition highlights China’s historical ceramic exports along maritime routes
Cobalt blue-and-white qinghua porcelain is a cultural gem of ancient China. For centuries, vast quantities of such ceramics were exported to other parts of Asia, Africa and Europe, making this variety of porcelain a symbol of Chinese civilization.
Fine examples, sometimes coated with other glazes in other colors, are among the most expensive Chinese artworks at auctions today.
Qinghua ceramics were fired en mass and transported abroad during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). But the production boom of Chinese ceramics for export began much earlier, when foreign orders, which demanded a variety of colors, patterns and styles, played an important role in maritime trade between China and the world.
The National Museum of China is offering a brief review of the maritime trade in such ceramics. A Sail Over Miles, the ongoing exhibition running through Dec 4, navigates the large-scale manufacturing, export and routes from the days of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
A display of nearly 300 antique objects in its collection shows ceramic types and kilns mostly ordered by foreign countries. Some of the objects on show were excavated from the wrecks of sunken cargo ships that had been under the sea for a long time, such as Nanhai No 1, a Chinese merchant carrier dating back more than 800 years.
Wang Chunfa, director of the National Museum of China, said the Maritime Silk Road, a major channel of outbound trade and cultural exchanges for ancient China, was primarily established between the third and second centuries BC. But it was not until the mid- to late Tang Dynasty that Chinese porcelain became an export commodity in large demand.
Jia Dan, a Tang Dynasty chancellor and geographer from the eighth century, mentioned two major marine routes for porcelain at that time in a book. One connected Guangzhou ( in today’s Guangdong province) and the southern Asian and Arabian markets, and the other connected Penglai (in today’s Shandong province), Jeju Island in South Korea and Japan.
Ceramics being traded then were largely monochromatic — normally with a grayish-yellow green or creamy-white glaze — and they were fired at kilns in areas that are now the provinces of Hebei, Hunan, Zhejiang and Guangdong. The threecolor drip glaze sancai pottery that became prominent during the Tang Dynasty was also sought by foreign buyers.
Qin Dashu, a professor at Peking University’s School of Archaeology and Museology, said ceramics achieved predominance in China’s exports in the 10th century.
“The products, although not in
great quantities, were shipped to as far as the Swahili-speaking areas in eastern Africa,” he said.
“They were manufactured at kilns in both northern and southern China to include the most representative types of ceramics of the period.”
After leaving Chinese ports, ships headed to connecting ports along the Strait of Malacca. The ceramics were then transferred to other ships that would sail through the Indian Ocean, along the west bank of the Persian Gulf and into the Gulf of Aden, he added.
Porcelain exports reached a height in the Southern Song Dynasty (11271279), prompted by enormous progress in productivity, the craft of boatbuilding and seamanship. Kilns were built in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, and in Zhejiang and Fujian provinces
to specifically cater to the rise in overseas orders.
The Yuan Dynasty saw an even more prosperous scene: ships with large amounts of ceramics in different colors and styles set out from busy port cities, such as Quanzhou — known as Chinchew at the time — in Fujian, Hangzhou and Guangzhou to destination countries and regions numbering up to 100.
The peak of porcelain production and exports came in the 15th century. Ceramics were exported more widely, along the routes explored by the legendary voyager Zheng He (1371-1433) and his fleet, and also via the navigation network formed after Europe had more overseas exploration. Chinese ceramics then appeared in bigger quantities in the European market.
The exhibition also shows Japanese,
Korean and British ceramics, reflecting the influence of China’s porcelainmaking techniques in local industries.
Overseas commissions also influenced the appreciation of Chinese ceramics.
A typical example is the production of cobalt blue- and- white plates, often measuring more than 35 centimeters in diameter, beginning in the Yuan Dynasty. Some experts believe that plates of that size were ordered by merchants from West Asia and were thereafter introduced to Chinese people, who typically used smaller ceramic plates.