Page 97 - Chinese and Asian Ceramics from an Indonesian Collection

Ceramics from the Musi River

Figure 139. Stem-bowl, height 5.8 cm, South Sumatra Kalanay
style, probably from Lampung District, South
Sumatra, C9 to modern period, from the Musi River,
Boom Baru site. Catalogue No. K2110.

Figure 140. Heads, height 5.1 & 6.5 cm, probably from
anthropomorphic jarlets, possibly from Philippines, Figure 141. Cylindrical vessel, height 14.2 cm, similar in shape,
early Metal Age, from the Musi River. Catalogue but not colour, to a very common vessel of unknown
Nos K1777 & K1237. purpose found at Angkor Borei, Cambodia, 100
BC–200/300 AD, from the Musi River, Pusri Site.
collected by us was more evocative of the Philippine Catalogue No. K1776.
Kalanay style than those of the Vietnam Sa-Huynh style
and that the shape is somewhat similar to Kalanay style
containers. She noted that ‘this type of notched slots
and perforated triangles are rather characteristic of
the Kalanay cultural area, but the notches are never
perforated on the Kalanay type pottery’. Such pedestal
bowls were apparently significant in Philippine culture
and were believed to have been used primarily as ritual
offering vessels (Balbaligo 2015, Figure 2.17). Fevereau
and Bellina (in press) stated that lenticular flat surfaces
on the periphery of carina alternating with small notches
occurred as early as 400 BC in the South China Sea, and
possibly as late as 500 in the Philippines. However, as
noted by these authors, small amounts of ware with close
affinities to the Kalanay cultural type were found from
coastal sites in the Malay Peninsula dated from the 5th to
2nd century BC. The tip of this Peninsula is geographically
close to the mouth of the Musi River, and the series of
some 40 known settlements, including at Karangagung
and Air Sugihan, on the lowland coastal sands between
the Musi and Batanghari Rivers,which were probably part
of a port, perhaps as early as the 1st century. It is, then,
perhaps not surprising to also find pottery upstream in Figure 142. Kendi, height 23.5 cm, similar to fine buff ware
the Musi that probably is of Kalanay Philippine origin. found at Angkor Borei, Cambodia, 200/300–600,
from The Musi River. Catalogue No. K2145.
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