Page 66 - Chinese and Asian Ceramics from an Indonesian Collection

Chapter 4. Glazed Ceramics in the Musi River

jar (K2434) may have been produced in Guangdong spout connected to its neck with a curved bridge (K1450)
Province. A bulbous jar with two heavy vertical lugs on and the other a medium sized broad rimmed jar with a
the upper shoulder (K776) is similar to one from the flower pattern exposed through a white slip using a ‘resist’
Lena Shoal wreck dated to the Hongzhi reign, Ming technique (Figure 49).
Dynasty (1487–1505).
Of the Chinese black glazed ceramics from the Musi Blue and white wares (c. 1350–present)
eight items were found at the Pusri site, then Sungai Rebo Blue and white glazed stoneware first appears in China
(4), Boom Baru (3), and Sungai Suro (1). at the Tang City of Yangzhou and more recently at
Gongyi, which is part of the Gongxian kiln group. They
Sancai wares (C10–C14) include remains of bowls, dishes, ewers, boxes and a
QiQi Jiang (2009) considers that production of lead pillow-decorated in designs rather similar to those from
glazed sancai ware stopped at the end of Tang Dynasty the Belitung wreck (Krahl 2010). Occasional pieces or
and did not continue into the Five Dynasties (907–960). fragments of early blue glaze have been unearthed from
It re-appeared in the Liao Dynasty (916–1125), Song the Northern Song period, although blue glaze was not
Dynasty (960–1279) and Jin Dynasty (1115–1234), much used by Chinese potters until around 1300 to 1320.
when production was massive, then the Yuan and Qing Two crudely decorated bottles with under-glaze blue
Dynasties. Colour combinations used in the Liao, Song beneath a clear straw coloured over-glaze were collected
and Jin sancai wares were mainly green, yellow and from the Musi (Figure 50). They may be very early
white and excluded the use of blue and black found in examples of high-fired blue and white glazed pottery.
Tang sancai. Liao sancai greens also tended to be more They appeared to be Chinese but could also have been
yellowish than those of the Tang. Song and later sancai made in North Vietnam. Both appeared to have used
wares on occasions add turquoise-blue, dark-red and a cobalt painted directly onto the biscuit such that the
purplish-brown colour. outlines are blurred. In K971, where the straw coloured
Some of the sancai ware found in the Musi we allocate over-glaze had been degraded, the blue pigment is very
without great confidence to the Song and Yuan Dynasties, faded. Krahl (op. cit.) stated that such degradation of the
some may be more recent. These included a number of cobalt did not happen to Yuan and later Chinese blue
amber and green glazed kendi that were similar to those and white wares because cobalt sinks into the unfired
produced at the Cizao kilns in Fujian Province which body and stays there after the over-glaze is lost.
produced low-fired lead green and yellow glazed kendis, By mid-14th century blue and white wares became
censers, basins, plates, jarlets (K707, K2212, K2425) and the main product of the Jingdezhen kiln, north-
ewers. According to Koh (2013c) characteristic Cizao eastern Jiangxi Province, Southern China. It was then
kendis were made specifically for the Southeast Asian continuously used until the present day, although
markets. Examples of such kendis from the Musi included somewhat reduced during the reign of the first several
K711, K727, K1251, K1521, K1089, K2143, K2275, and Ming Dynasty emperors. The early cobalt pigment used
K2632 (Figure 45). was imported from the Near East and it produced in some
Other sancai ware found included a squatting Buddha instances a rich blue colour referred to as ‘Muhammadin
figure (K905), a tiny standing mythical beast (K1644), two Blue’ which frequently was not well controlled by Chinese
figures mounted on the back of a Qilin mythical beast potters such that it developed the familiar ‘heap and
(K1687) and a Qilin (Figure 46), and perhaps the most pile’ effect. Other under-glaze was more a grey-blue
delightful figurine from the Musi of a sitting peasant colour, with the difference in the blue determined by
wearing a broad-brimmed straw peasant hat and a dark the firing process.
mustard coloured coat with duck shell blue Qingbai Koh (2012e) states that high quality large ewers,
type glaze pooled in his lap (Figure 48). yuhuchun and meiping jars, bowls and plates and lower
Also found were a variety of delightful small water quality small ewers, jarlets, cups, bowls and stem cups
droppers (Figure 44 & Figure 47), some polychrome decorated with designs employing imported cobalt
others green and comprising the following pieces blue under-glaze beneath Qingbai or shufu glaze were
K1028–9, K1050, K1151, K1252, K1288, K1291, K1720, excavated in Indonesia (Trowulun in Central Java) and
K2172, K2250–1, K2440); an ink well shaped as a fish the Philippines. Their design was generally “simple,
(K2294); a variety of simple utilitarian pieces with consisting of floral–cloud motif decorated with greyish
frequently degraded green lead glaze, which were cobalt blue executed in calligraphic style”. Additionally,
possibly produced also in Fujian Province (K1229, numerous pieces of ‘Muhammadin Blue’ Yuan pottery
K1323, K1230–1, K1335, K1363, K1418, K1719, K1743, have been found under the sea close to Tuban on the
K2101, K2267, K2302, K2339, K2348, K2491), a statue Central Java coast, which was the main port servicing
base (K1778), curved lid decorated with carved flowers the Majapahit Kingdom centred on Trowulun.
and swastikas (K1991) and the upper part of a ewer with Three interesting figurines were found in the
applied rodent handle (K2020). Musi. One was a standing lady (K915); one was a
Two pieces may be Song or Yuan or more recent. person on a donkey (K962) and the third, a woman
They had a distinct dark green glaze not found on other kneeling before a man (Figure 51). Each wore a
ceramics from the Musi. One was a ewer with its thin large coat or shawl coloured blue, probably using a

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