Page 37 - Chinese and Asian Ceramics from an Indonesian Collection

Ceramics from the Musi River

the prehistoric Sa Huynh culture. The Cham Kingdom Vijaya. In 1697, the southern principality of Panduranga
included the mountainous zones west of the coastal plain became a vassal of the Vietnamese emperor. The remaining
and at times extended into present-day Laos. Major Cham Cham territories were annexed by the Vietnamese in 1832.
sites include Tra Kieu, My Son, Thanh Ho and Go Cam. In 1720, most Chams migrated to Cambodia and Siam
Chinese annals describe the state of ‘Linyi’ in mid-3rd to escape Vietnamese persecution. The last Cham king
century as a major political force. By the 5th or 6th century died in 1822 and today only about 150,000 Cham survive.
the southern limit of Linyi was the Hai Van pass. Linyi The Cham had a relationship with the Philippines in
was surrounded by multiple, independent competing the 11th and 12th centuries and one shipwreck off the
trading states (Stark 2006) which they frequently raided coast of southern Philippines was almost entirely Cham
and were such an irritant to the Chinese that they crushed celadon (Brown 2004). Shipwreck sites in South East
Linyi in 446 (Cotterell 2014). In 623 Linyi (and Chenla) Asia with Cham wares belong to a brief period between
were among the first polities from the South Seas to send 1450–1475 (Brown 2004:7) but as noted by Miksic (2009)
tributary missions to Tang China to establish diplomatic further research may yield evidence for a longer period
relations (Giang 2016). of export. Prior to this report, there was no evidence that
The Cham were mostly a seafaring people dependent the Cham traded with Palembang, although their pottery
economically on a vigorous international maritime trade was recorded from West Java.
with China. These activities were centred on their provision
of safe harbours and fresh water for trading ships between Funan Kingdom (1st to 6th century)
South East Asia and China. They were most influential Stark (2006) considers that the state-like polities which
in the 9th and 10th centuries (Aoyagi & Hasebe Eds. emerged in the Mekong Basin in the 1st millennium,
2002). Wade (2009) reported that Chinese texts of the referred to as ‘Funan’ by contemporary Chinese, arose
10th century recorded the arrival of Cham missions at through intraregional and international maritime
the northern Song court which wrote of the Cham role trade networks. She considers that these polities ‘have
in the ‘…great maritime trade route which connected the been (problematically) glossed as Funan and Chenla’.
Arab lands with China, passing through southern India, However, she notes that these documentary-based
Zabaj (Srivijaya) in Sumatra, and Champa’. During this scenarios have been questioned recently. Most notably
period the Cham were one of the most important centres by Glover (2010) who writes that recent archaeological
for Arab traders (and other international merchants), work reveals that there are now many differences, as well
who at that time controlled and operated maritime trade as parallels, between the material culture of Funan and
networks in Asia. During the late-10th to 12th century, western Thailand, as well as with the ceramics and other
Cham Muslims settled in Hainan Island and appeared small finds from early-Cham sites in central Vietnam,
to have been key a link between Islamic communities in such as Tra Kieu. Consequently, Glover does not believe
Cham and those in China. that the label ‘Funan’ is appropriate for Thailand in
It appears from a Chinese text that during the 10th the early-to mid-1st millennium and a new cultural
to 12th century, trade between Cham and Sriwijaya was term has to be found that more properly reflects the
important to the former’s economy (Wade 2009). A development of urbanisation and early-Indic cultural
variety of Cham trade products were listed in that Chinese influences in Thailand. Whatever the nature of Funan,
account, but they did not mention ceramics. Foreign its influence was expansive and, in addition to parts of
ceramic finds in their political and ritual centres include southern Vietnam, its various rulers controlled parts
the typical Chinese assemblage of Changsha, Xing, and of the Malay Peninsula and the lower Irrawaddy valleys
Yue wares, iron-decorated ware from the Xicun kilns in and possibly parts of central and southern Thailand.
Guangdong, Longquan celadon, and blue-and-white ware As noted earlier, it is probable that Funan’s influence
from the Zhangzhou kilns in Fujian province, as well as extended through the Malay Peninsula to southern
early Islamic turquoise-glazed earthenware. Sumatra, West Java and Bali.
Modern evidence shows that the Cham produced A total of 350 groups of sites have been discovered
beautiful ceramics and exported them widely. Cham along the coastal and riverine landscape of Indochina
ceramics have now been identified from the Sinai dating back to the first half of the 1st millennium
Peninsula to the Philippines, Indonesia, and Japan, as well (Manguin 2004). These included the walled and moated
as in shipwrecks off the coasts of Thailand, Malaysia, and cities of Thanh Ho, Chau Sa, Thanh Loi, Tra Kieu, Oc
Vietnam. The Pandanan shipwreck off the coast of the Eo. All these sites belong to the ‘Oc Eo’ culture of the
island of Palawan, dated 1450 to 1487, contained several Funan Kingdom.
hundred celadons from the Go Sanh kilns (Diem 1997, Funan was greatly influenced culturally by Indian
1998–2001, 1999). Champa ceramics were also buried Hindu civilization (Stark 1996, Hall 1985 & 1992).
in the Dai Lang cemetery in the Central Highlands, Probably its capital was Angkor Borei and its port Oc Eo,
demonstrating trade into the interior (Morimoto 1996; which are now located in modern Cambodia. The earliest
Bui et al. 2000; Bui 2007). historical reference to Funan is a Chinese description
After the 10th century the Cham gradually declined of a mission that visited the country in the 3rd century.
under pressure from the North Vietnamese Dai Viet. In Angkor Borei existed as far back as the 4th century
1471, Viet troops sacked the northern Cham capital of BC. It was a large urbanized complex with a complex

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