The
Story of
Underglaze
Black Ceramics
Long before the Chinese made
Blue and White Porcelain using cobalt, a black iron oxide was used to paint motifs below a clear protecting glaze. This technique, used at Cizhou in northern China, developed independently from the
Celadon production in southern China.
By the 14th century, the so-called
Underglaze Black technique appeared in Thailand and Vietnam. In Thailand,
fish and chrysanthemums representing long life and happiness were preferred
while in Vietnam a flower motif was more common. It is highly possible that the underglaze decoration technique (painting with oxides and then applying glaze) arrived in both Thailand and Vietnam with immigrating Chinese potters.
|
Double-Duck Water Container
CERAMIC ARTIFACT
#ub-002008
DESCRIPTION:
The
container was meant to hold water used for various purposes. Two
ducks is a common theme in Chinese Porcelain since they symbolize
marital happiness -- duck were thought to mate for life.
ORIGIN:
The
artifact
was produced in either China or Vietnam. It was
brought to Southeast Asia as a valuable trade-good probably by an ancient Chinese trading
ship that later sunk into the sea. After many centuries,
the piece was rediscovered and subsequently acquired by The Chalre Collection through a registered dealer.
AGE:
Produced
in the Ming
Dynasty period (1368 - 1644).
MEASUREMENTS:
Height: 7cm
(2.75in.)
Width or Depth:10cm
(4in.)
REFERENCES:
Artifacts
with similar shape and/or decorations are found in various publications
including: Chinese Ceramics,
Vietnamese Ceramics and Zhangzhou
Ware.
Other identical and/or similar pieces can be found in Lost
At Sea: The Lena Shoal Junk, The
Pearl Road: Tales of Treasure Ships and other publications dealing
with Asian shipwreck excavations.
Similar
and/or identical
items are also on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London
(UK), the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco (USA), the National Museum
of Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), the National Museum of the Philippines
(Manila) and
other museums
throughout the world with diverse collections of Asian ceramics.
|
+632 822 4129
