Page 137 - Chinese and Asian Ceramics from an Indonesian Collection

Ceramics from the Musi River 5

Figure 251. Jars, lugs in shape of sea mammal or rats, decorative beading around upper body, height 28.3, 30.4, 25.8 cm, Yuan
to early Ming Dynasty, probably Fujian Province, C14–C15, from the Musi River, Boom Baru. Catalogue Nos (L to
R) K2247, K1206, K2189.

Figure 252. Jar, four lugs in form of squirrels around shoulder,
decorated with applied beading around shoulder,
most of body missing, rim diameter 23 cm, Yuan
to early Ming Dynasty, probably Fujian Province.
C14–C15, from the Musi River, Sungai Rebo site.
Catalogue No. K1481.

peaked production during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
We collected no such jars from the Musi.
The second group, sometimes called ‘Brittle wares’
were thinly potted bodies, coarse buff fabrics, and had
elegant designs of sprigged dragons, deer and flowering
branches framed by roulette bands, resembling the Figure 253. Jar, decorated in ‘Tradescant style’ with five applied
flowers of two forms connected with vines with
blue painted and enamelled designs of the Zhangzhou occasional pinnate leaves, height 23 cm, late Ming
plates. They had a thin, flowing, semi-transparent glaze, Dynasty, Guangdong Province, 1567–1644, from the
penetrated by surface grain and of medium brown or Musi River, Batu Ampar site. Catalogue No. K2540.
olive green colour (Harrisson 1986, Nyiri 2016). There
were three varieties of Brittle wares, namely i) a vase-
like variant with bulbous body and segmented neck;
ii) a large, ovoid type and iii) a style with elongated
body and cylindrical or flaring neck. Brittle wares were
stylistically related to Tradescant wares (named after the

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