Page 149 - Chinese and Asian Ceramics from an Indonesian Collection

Ceramics from the Musi River 5

Central Thailand India
Central Thai earthenware and stoneware pottery was Indian pottery was surprisingly rare in the Musi; only
common in the Musi. It included a reasonably wide a single earthenware bowl from the medieval period
variety of forms, ranging from bowls, jars, basins, stem (probably 11th century) was found in the Musi. Other
cups and storage jars from Phitsanulok and Singburi kilns Arikamedu type Roman period roulette ware found in
in Central Thailand during the Ayutthaya period (which Bali, West Java, and other parts of Peninsula Malaya and
controlled the Thai pottery trade for much of the period mainland South East Asia was not seen. This, in spite of
from the 14th to the 18th centuries). A group of kendis the fact that the Indian derived Mahayana religion had
and one bowl made of a fine white fabric and decorated an established monastery in Palembang from at least the
with red/brown spotted or banded slip may also be from 7th century; Indian Tamil trading guilds were known to
this period. have played a role in the functioning of the huge entrepôt
warehouse at Palembang; and that in 1025 the Chola
Peninsula Thailand Indian fleet sacked Palembang, possibly to re-establish
Sriwijaya had considerable influence over the Songkhla fairness for, or supremacy of, their Tamil trading guilds.
Lake, Satingpra region of central east coast Peninsula It has been suggested that the general absence of Indian
Thailand from the 9th to 10th century. It is, then, ceramics in the Musi was because Indians mainly used tin-
unsurprising that large numbers of finely levigated white based cooking utensils and rarely used pottery or re-used
fabric, slip-painted, kendis, ewers, and stem cups, thought pottery for such purposes. This may be the case, because
to have been produced in the Songkhla Lake, Satingpra although Indian trading ships held primacy at Barus, in
Peninsula region, were imported into Palembang during North Sumatra, between the 10th and 12th century, very
this period of ‘influence’. Of particular interest, were little Indian pottery was found there (although glass beads
a number of small to large ewers of different body and made in India were common). It may also have been
foot shape, including flat bases. These were decorated that Indians were not interested in the establishment
on their shoulder with an incised lace, somewhat of a community at Palembang, but merely maintained a
similar to decoration on Javan bronze objects (Professor sufficient presence there to ensure that their commerce
Miksic, pers. comm.) but also found on later large jars was not hindered.
manufactured near Serang in West Java from the 16th
century to the end of the Dutch era in Indonesia. Most Java
of these ‘lace decorated’ ewers had slipped panels on Several kendis and a small jar from the Musi had affinities
their body and one, which was photographed but not with the West Javan Buni and associated cultures which
collected, had a tri-coloured terra sigillata-type slip, dated from 200 BC–500 AD.
which included a green (probably chromium based) Majapahit style earthenware pottery, probably
colour. Several had what appeared to be a thin fly-ash imported from a number of places in Java, was reasonably
celadon glaze. common in the Musi. It included kendis, kundikas, typical
zoomorphic money boxes, toys and roof tiles, as well as
‘Vajra ware’. a miniature house and granary similar to those found
One of the most abundant groups of pottery collected at Trowulan in East Java. It would probably have arrived
from the Musi was decorated mostly with what Professor in Palembang throughout the reign of the Majapahit
Miksic suggested may be a Vajra-style pattern. This pattern Kingdom in Java, from late-13th to late-15th century and
was found incised directly on jars of dark grey stoneware particularly from the period 1347 to 1389 when a Javan
glazed with a dense or a thin fly-ash celadon on a grey Majapahit king ruled Palembang.
fabric or as sgraffito through a chocolate or red slip on Earthenware from the Banten area in West Java (Old
fine whitish earthenware jars, stem cups, bottles and a Banten at Serang and Ciruas) was occasionally found in
bowl. A group of unglazed kundika may also be also part the Musi. It included a small and large jar, several kendis,
of this group, which we loosely tag as ‘Vajra ware’. This a stove and candlestick holder.
‘Vajra ware’ which was exogenous to Sumatra, but only
reported from Palembang, may have been specifically Sumatran (local)
made for the large Mahayana Buddhists community which Local earthenware pottery from southern Sumatra was
lived in Palembang from at least the second part of the extremely abundant in the Musi. It included a wide
7th to the 13th century. This Palembang monastery was range of interesting kendis (both large and miniatures),
the centre of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism in the figurines, water droppers and toys. There was also some
Indonesian Archipelago and probably further afield. On well-potted kendis and toys reflective of the best of such
the balance of evidence, we consider this ware was made wares produced in Lampung Province to the immediate
in the central coastal areas of Peninsula Thailand or in south of the Musi River Basin. These ’Lampung wares’
China and was likely produced over a long period of time, were characterised by their coarse clay with numerous
probably from the 10th to the 13th century, after which mica inclusions and decorations that sometimes combined
the Vajrayana religion began to decline in Indonesia incised, carved, applied punctate and slip painted
following the arrival of Islam. techniques.’ Lampung ware’, included beautifully potted

132