Page 44 - Export Porcelain and Globakization- GOOD READ

Thuringia), the Austrian Empire (Vienna and Bohemia), France (Limoges and Sevres),
the English Midlands and Denmark (Copenhagen) – new designs, forms and
decorations were innovated. Mass production of creamware and pearlware (e.g. by
Wedgewood, Spode and Villeroy and Boch) made ceramics affordable to everybody.
The production of porcelain figurines – influenced by the Blanc-de-Chine items –
became an important field for the artistic departments of European manufacturers. In
the 19th century Chinese influence on new European ceramics became less and less,
even though some Asian décor patterns are still produced today (such as Kakiemon
and Imari designs, the Meissen dragon décor, the already mentioned blue onion and
the Willow pattern).
Jingdezhen is still the most important ceramic center of China, and probably the
world, in terms of output, but most of the mass-produced products of today are either
simple replicas of Ming and Qing porcelain for decorative purposes or rather cheap
dishes hardly able to compete in quality with European, Korean or Japanese products.
There is still a vivid studio pottery culture in China. However, it seems that especially
in Japan, but also in Korea, modern ceramic art enjoys a higher appreciation than in
the motherland of porcelain.
4. Other Asian Trade Ceramics
4.1 Japanese Export Ceramics
In 1650 – during the Chinese civil war, when Chinese porcelain exports came to a
standstill – the Dutch East India Company searched for new sources of porcelain in
Japan. At that time, the kilns from Arita on the Japanese Island of Kyushu, where
kaolin raw material was discovered in the early 17th century, could supply enough
quality porcelain to the Dutch East India Company. The VOC had already established
trading activities with Japan in 1609 in Hirado, and took over a small trading hub
from the Portuguese near Nagasaki in 1637 – only 75 km away from Arita.
Japan during the Edo period (1603-1868) was closed to the outside world, similar
to China during the Ming dynasty. It was in 1542 when the first European – the
Portuguese Mendez Pinto - landed accidentally on the shores of Japan. Over the
following six decades Portuguese missionaries tried to convert Japanese to
Catholicism and trade between China and Japan was facilitated. The Portuguese
played a crucial role in the silk and silver trade between China and Japan through
73
their hubs in Hirado, near Nagasaki, and Macao . Portuguese shipbuilding know-how
also supported the creation of a Japanese merchant fleet operating under the “Red
Seal” system. During the early decades of the Tokugawa Shogunate between 1592 and
1635 approximately 350 so-called Japanese Red Seal ships – licensed by the Japanese
Government – sailed to Annam, the Philippines, Formosa and Siam trading mainly
silver for silk and sugar but also ceramics (see map 3). Vietnamese ceramics found
their way on Red Seal ships to Japan. However, in 1635 the favorable policies
towards foreigners and local international merchants changed and a period of
selfisolationism (sakoku means “closed country”) started. Only one port was left open
to European traders – the artificial tiny Dejima Island in the bay of Nagasaki, a
trading post of the Dutch VOC. It was forbidden to enter the country or have contact
with the Japanese until the mid-19th century. Dejima is not an island anymore, but
through land reclamation it is fully integrated into the city of Nagasaki. The
reconstructed buildings are now a tourist destination and remind visitors of the impact
of changing mindsets in foreign relations in a city which has suffered a lot from
aggressive politics, wars and Japanese isolationism.

43