Page 143 - Bonhams Indian and Himalayan Art September 2013

Si Satchanalai 215
216
Mostly likely caused by a ban on private overseas trade instituted by 217
the Ming Emperor Hongwu (1368-1398) around 1372 and rescinded 218
in 1567, a dramatic shortage in Chinese export ceramics throughout 219
Southeast Asia, known as “The Ming Gap”, gave rise to booming
industry in Thailand and Vietnam in the 15th and 16th centuries. While it
is contested that techniques and developments at Southeast Asian kilns
were the result of emigrant Chinese potters, examples produced at these
sites nonetheless demonstrate an ancestry in Chinese wares.

Lots 216 and 217, for example, feature the infamous blue and white
decoration. The lid of a covered bowl in lot 218 shows the carved slip
techniques indicative of Cizhou ware of Hopei province in Northern
China. Lastly, the viscous liquid celadon glazes pooling in recessed areas
on lots 220, 221, and 222 derive from Longquan ware of Zhejiang
province. For further discussion, see Brown, The Ming Gap and Shipwreck
Ceramics in Southeast Asia, Bangkok, 2009, pp. 17 -31.

215
A stoneware covered box
Thailand, Si Satchanalai, 15th/16th century
4 1/4 in. (10.8 cm) high; 4 in. (10.2 cm) diameter
$1,500 - 2,500

An exquisite example, the almost calligraphic brushstrokes are expressive
and extempore with the floral sprays verging on abstraction and
demonstrative of the characteristic linearity of Thai ceramic decoration. A
covered box with similarly skilled painting but corroded glaze is held in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art (1989.238.5a,b).

Provenance:
The Collection of Dr Philip Gould
Acquired in Malaysia, 1960-76

216
A stoneware blue and white covered box
Thailand, Si Satchanalai, 15th/16th century
4 in. (10.2 cm) high
$1,000 - 1,500

For similar pieces of varying proportions, see Spinks, The Covered Bowls
of the Sawankhalok Kilns, Bangkok, 1970, plates V.C & III.B, as well as a
more compressed example with iron-black decoration in Richards, South-
East Asian Ceramics, New York, 1995, no. 42 left, p. 100.

Provenance:
The Collection of Dr Philip Gould
Acquired in Thailand, 1960-76

217
A stoneware blue and white kendi
Chinese export for Indonesian market or Thailand, Si Satchanalai,
15th/16th century
With intertwining ogival medallions containing deer surrounded by
dynamic and often abstracted vegetal scrolls.
6 1/2 in. (16.5 cm) high
$1,000 - 1,500

Kendis are hygienic drinking vessels which allowed for reliable pouring directly
into the mouth without the need for the lips to touch the spout. Given
its functionality for communal drinking it was vastly popular throughout
Southeast Asia. Deriving from the Indian kundika, the form entered China
in the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE) from where ceramic versions originated.
The present lot compares favorably to similar kendis held in the University of
Malaya Collection, see Khoo, Kendi, Singapore, 1991, figs 43-5, pp. 46-7.

Provenance:
The Collection of Dr Philip Gould
Acquired in Thailand, 1960-76

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