Page 4 - Export Porcelain and Globakization- GOOD READ

ceramics can be found in West China, but also in Portugal and Spain. Hinduism and
its designs brought by Indian traders and business man influenced the Khmer Empire
of Angkor, Champa in southern Vietnam, the island of Bali, and via the Khmer, also
the Thai Kingdoms of Sukhothai and Ayutthaya. Buddhism reached South East Asia
later, through missionaries from Sri Lanka and India. The Mon people in present-day
Thailand and Burma were the first in South East Asia to adopt Theravada Buddhism –
the dominant religion in this region to this day. The Eurasian double continent is not
only a geographic dimension; it is above all a cultural reality. Ceramics have always
played an important role in developing, and contributing to, a unified Eurasian culture.
This is the story blue and white porcelain still has to tell us – a story which starts in
East China under the Mongolian Yuan dynasty.
The book tries to trace back the origins of a joint East and West cultural identity. It
describes the development of a Eurasian décor by analyzing the cultural interactions,
the trading routes, the merchants, customers and the economics of the trade. Porcelain
is the carrier of culture; the trading routes and ships were the means; and the trade
itself was the mechanism for the intercultural contacts.
The first chapter is dedicated to the products of China, the second focuses on the
agents and their routes – from Portugal, the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden and other
countries. The third chapter analyses the mechanism of exchange. China is in the
center of these three chapters since more than 95% of all export ceramics from 850
until 1850 are of Chinese origin. However, it is shown, that China even having
produced them has incorporated designs from all over the world and has vice versa
influenced all regions. The fourth chapter gives a brief overview of the other
important Asian ceramic exporters – especially Japan, but also Vietnam and Thailand.
Chapter five looks into the effects the export had on the countries of destination. Here
we will understand the unifying effects of porcelain on the art and culture of Eurasia.
This book is an interdisciplinary work. It combines history, economics, applied art
and intercultural relations – which is, in my view, the only way to address complex
issues.
Being far from a specialist on ceramics, I would like to express my appreciation to
the work and the excellent publications on shipwreck porcelain of Roxanna Brown
who has opened my eyes to the beauty of South Asian ceramics. I also owe much to
the work of Christiaan Jörg, who gave detailed insights into the Dutch-Asian
porcelain trade, to Geoffrey Godden who first bridged the gap between European
ceramics and Asian ceramics and to Andrew Madsen and Carolyn White, who did an
excellent job on dating Chinese export ceramics. This has helped me very much in
identifying the items of my own collection. Many researchers have worked on this
topic before and many more will come afterwards. We draw on their experience and
we hope that future researchers will find our work as helpful as we have found the
efforts of others. The same applies to the collection – the second part of the book.
Many have owned the items before – in most cases we do not know their names, who
they were, where they have lived, what they have done. Many will follow as well;
nobody really owns them. They own us and they remind us that we belong to the
same Eurasian family.

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