Page 260 - Ming_China_Courts_and_Contacts_1400_1450 Craig lunas

Plate 28.10 Official Longquan shard of a large bowl unearthed from
the site at Mambrui

were quite similar to the official blue-and-white wares of
Jingdezhen. This is a distinctive feature and in this respect
they were unlike the regular Longquan wares used by the
ordinary people of the period. Through use of this feature,
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our team identified some of the Longquan wares unearthed
from the Kenyan coastal areas as early Ming official wares.
These include the celadon dish with incised lotus from
Ungwana (Pl. 28.9), the incised celadon bowl from
Ishakani in Coast province, the celadon bowl with moulded
Plate 28.9 Official Longquan dish unearthed from Ungwana site, medallion from the Gedi Ruins and the sherds of official
Kenya Longquan wares found at the sites of Shanga, Pate Island
and Mambrui (Pl. 28.10).
tribute from Chinese kilns to the imperial court at this time. In order to have a better understanding of the early Ming
The objects were finely made, with regularly and neatly Longquan wares found in East Africa, I have carefully
formed thick bodies. Thick green glaze had been applied studied the examples of celadon produced as tribute in
evenly and the glaze has a notable gloss (Pl. 28.8). The Longquan. Family tombs of even the most important officials
unglazed ring on the base for supporting the object during of the Ming court such as Xu Da 徐達 (1332–85), Mu Ying
firing was always very regular in shape, showing that great 沐英 (1345–92) as well as princes and marquises do not
care had been taken when scraping away any unwanted contain this type of tribute ware from Longquan. Of the
glaze. The shape of the objects and the decorative designs hundreds of early Ming Longquan wares unearthed from
tombs throughout the country, not one example of this type
Plate 28.11 The large official Longquan dish collected in Topkapı has been found. There are about 20 to 30 pieces of this type of
Palace Museum, Istanbul, Turkey Longquan official ware in the Beijing Palace Museum, most
of them handed down from ancient times. This confirms the
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exclusive nature of the tribute wares, which were made only
for the imperial court. However, such wares have also been
discovered at important places overseas. For example, the
Topkapı Saray in Istanbul has a large collection of these
types of Longquan wares (Pl. 28.11). This means that early
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Ming Longquan wares might have been used for trading and
that Longquan tribute wares designed by the imperial court
were specially made as gifts for foreign countries. This is
recorded in the Collected Statutes of the Great Ming under the
entry of ‘Ministry of Works’. Therefore, Longquan official
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wares were ordered by the Ministry of Works, used on official
occasions and presented as gifts to other countries. The
popular large dishes and bowls of the Yongle reign might
have been made in Longquan kilns specifically for the
voyages of Zheng He so that they could be presented as gifts
to the rulers of the countries he visited. In any case, these
discoveries of imperial wares provide strong evidence that
Zheng He visited the coastal areas of Kenya.
A Chinese researcher studying the 14 locations of East

250 | Ming China: Courts and Contacts 1400–1450