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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.
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Swatow Bowl from Shipwreck CERAMIC ARTIFACT
#ub-015008
DESCRIPTION:
The
shipwreck plate is typical of a Swatow piece manufactured for export to
Southeast Asia. It is decorated with busy circular designs on the
outside while the inside is completely white.
ORIGIN:
The
artifact
was produced in China,
probably in the city of Jingdezhen of Jiangxi province or in one of the
coastal cities. 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 by deep-sea excavators of the shipwreck and subsequently acquired by The Chalre Collection through a registered dealer.
AGE:
Produced
in the Ming
Dynasty period (1368 - 1644).
MEASUREMENTS:
Height:
6cm (2.5in.)
Width or Depth:
14.5cm (5.75in.)
REFERENCES:
Artifacts
with similar shape and/or decorations are found in various publications
dealing with Asian ceramics. Some of these include: Blue and White Wares Found in the
Philippines, Chinese Ceramics,
Chinese Blue
and White Porcelain, Blue and White Chinese Porcelain
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.
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