artifact descriptions, ceramic cargo

74 Pages·2011·4.63 MB·English

PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 396
THE CERAMIC CARGO OF THE CONCEPCION
by
Mama Rinaldi
• Historical Background
* The Manufacture of Ceranlics
• Chinese Ceramic Production 8..c'1d Distribution Network
, ll.::,chaeological Infonnation
* Dating the Cera.rnic Cargo
• Classification of Blue and White Porcelain
'" i\1ise-eIJaneou...::; Cermnics
* Classification of Stone,,;are and Earthenware Jars
• Archaeological Illustrations
397 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES
INTRODUCTION

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Before attempting to assess the c""go of sailing west round the new continent. This was
ceramics c""ried by the Spanish galleon Nuestra received enthusiastically for it provided the
Senora de la Concepcion, it is important to opportunity to gain control of the spice trade
understand how trade was conducted in "ithout contravening the Treaty of Tordesillas.
Southeast Aaia during the seyenteenth century, Magellan's fleet sailed from Seville in 1519.
and mOre specifically, by what means and through After rounding the tip of South Ameriea through
which agents the Spanish obtained Chinese and the strait that now bears his name and sailing
Southeast Asian goods. across the Pacific, the fleet reached the
The history of the Spanish in the East is Philippines in March 1521. Here Magellan met
inextricably linked with that of Portuguese his death during a skirmish with a local tribe.
expansion in the Orient, the latter beginning at However, his second·in'command. Sebastian del
the end of the flfteenth century. The Portuguese Cane, managed to complete the drcumnavigation
had rounded the tip ofAfrica in 1488, opening the of the globe by crossing the Indian Ocean and
route to the Indian Ocean' and the Spice Islands sailing north along the West African coast, thus
beyond. Four years later. sailing under the contravening the Treaty of Tordesillas. During
Spanish flag, Columbus discovered land in the the next two centuries no Spanish ship ever sailed
west which he and ewrybody else at the time along this route.
believed to be the InQies, also knowrl as the Spice Before leaving Southeast Asia, del Cano
Islands"' It became cle"" that, in order to avoid took on a cargo of spices in the Moluccas. Vllhen
disputes between the two Iberian cO:Lltries over it was sold in Spain in 1522, the profits which it
the Spice Is:ards, it would be necessary to ~;elded proved enough to cover the cost of the
regulate territorial claims over the ne\vly­ whole expedition. This success whetted Spanish
disco,'ered lands. The fIrst agreement between appetite a."1d the next seven years witnessed a
Spain and Portugal was reached in 1493. A papal verbal battle between the Spanish, who
bull established a demarcation line drawn from contended that the Moluccas belonged to them,
pole to pole and running 100 leagues west of the and the Portuguese, who retorted that the
Cape Verde Islands, thereby limiting the two Spanish were violating the Treaty of Tordesillas
countries' respective areas of ~.£uence: since the Spice Islands lay within Portuguese
everything west ofthis line belonged to Spain and territor.y,
everything east of it belonged to Portugal. This Yet the argument was not clear·cut. The
was t8Jltamount to a division of the world measuring instruments of the day were not very
between these two countries to the exclusion of accurate; and while the Treaty of Tordesillas
all other European powers. stipulated that the demarcation line should be
However, the Portuguese were dissatisfled drawn 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde
with this agreement because it did not give them Islands, it did not specify whether the distance
enough room to maneuver in the Atlantic arld, a should be measured from the meridian of the
year later, a nev-: agreement was signed in archipelago or from the eastern or western tip of
Tordesillas. This treaty ratified a demarcation it. Furthermore, until the return of del Cano, the
line moved 370 leagues west of the Cape V erd e actual size of the earth was unknovlIl and, since
Islands. he was a Spaniard, the Portuguese believed that
During the following years Spain maps based on his measurements were
consolidated its conquests in the Americas, deliberately inaccurate. Consequently the exact
reaping the riches of Mexico and Peru. position of the eastern demarcation line remained
Meanwhile Portugal established its maritime unclear.
empire in the Orient, "ith Goa as its capital and The matter was temporarily settled by the
Malacca as its principal entrepot of Oriental Treaty of Zaragoza signed in 1529. In exchange
goods, especially spices from the Moluccas and silk for 350,000 ducats paid by Portugal, Spain
and porcelain from China, renounced its claims to the Moluccas and the
Nevertheless, the Spanish did not abandon demarcation line in the East was established 17 0
hope of gaining their share of the spice trade. In east of the Moluccas, thus including t.he
1518 Magellan made a proposal to Charles V of Philippines in Portuguese territory. As it turned
Spain to fmd a route to the Spice Islands by out, the Spanish were selling land that was not
PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 398
theirs and the Portuguese were buying their own angering his Portuguese suJ<iects, at other times
property. punctiliously reiterating the terms of the Treaty
However, the dispute over ovmership ofthe of Tordesillas and forbidding the Spanish from
Philippines continued until the eighteenth interfering in Portuguese territory. The latter
cenwry'. In spite of the Treaty of Zaragoza, a stance may have been dictated by the arrival of
few Spanish expeditions were sent to the the Dutch in the region in 1595. By the second
Philippines, first by the Magellan route and later decade of the seventeenth century the Dutch
from Mexico across the Pacific. But all failed to posed a serious threat to both Iberian parties and
fmd a westward route to Mexico because it was in their best interests to present a united
unfavorable winds persistently diverted the ships front against the common enemy.
back to Southeast Asia. Analysis of Oriental trade patterns reveals
It was not until 1565 that Andres de that there were profound differences in the ways
Urdaneta, a vetera"1 of an earlier expedition, in which the Spanish and the Portuguese carried
decided to sail farther north in the Pacific where on their trade. Their respective commercial
he fu:ally foand favorable winds to carry his ships activities in the East were obviously shaped by
to the coast of California. From there it was easy the Treaty of Tordesillas: while the Portuguese
to sail towards Acapulco. The Galleon Trade controlled the Eastern seas and were at liberty to
Route had finally been discovered! act as brokers and shippers through a network
Tn 1559 King Philip II ordered the Spanish that extended from Africa to Japan, the Spanish
to occupy the islands that were named after him. were confmed to a passive role in their sole
He issued two sets of instructions: the official possession of the Philippines; they were unable to
instructions, meant to assuage the Portt:guese, buy the riches of the Orient at their source and
were that the Spanish could only sail in these had to re:y on foreign merchants to bring Eastern
waters if: order to rescue fellow~countrymen products to Manila.
stranded from previous expeditions and to bring Another fundamental difference between
the word of God to the natives. However, Philip's the two countries was in the inability of the
secret instructions to the Spanish were to fmd a Portuguese to produce enough European
sultable place to settle a'1d to carry on trade to co=~dities or money to exchange for Oriental
whatever exten, possible. goods, compared to the seemingly endless amount
In 1571 ~1iguel Lopez de Legazpi fmally of silver which the Spanish received from their
estabEshed a permanent settlement in Manila. American colonies. Portug-d!, the smaller, poorer
This site was chosen because of its excellent nation, produced nothing of interest for the
harbor, its strategic location and, more sophisticated markets of the Orient nor did it
importantly, because Chinese junks visited it have enough money to pay for Eastern goods.
regularly, thus ensuring a plentiful supply of silks. Consequently, the Portuguese were forced to act
porcetain and other products from China. Next to as carriers and brokers among Asian cOlmtries,
spices, silk was the product most coveted by the thereby generating profits that allowed them to
Spanish. acquire the Oriental goods essential for their
Ob,';ously the Portuguese were not happy domestic markets. This required a tremendous
with this state of affairs, bc:t they were thinly effort on their part and entailed great risks'.
spread in the East and the Philippines By contrast, the Spanish in Manila only had
represented no more than a minor trade to wait for the yearly galleon to arrive, loaded
proposition compared with the key positions ",ith silver pieces of eight minted in Mexico.
which they already controlled: Goa in India, the Then they would exchange this silver for goods
Moluccas and Malarca in Southeast Asia, Macao in which, in most cases, were brought to their
China and Deshima in Japan. It was not doorstep by Chinese, Portuguese and Japanese
considered worthwhile to dislodge the Spanish merchants. The amount of silver imported from
from their enclave: they would be allowed to America was such that in a very short time the
remain in the archipelago of the Philippines so Mexican pieces of eight became the most widely
long as they ventured no further. accepted and most common currency in Asia.
In 1580 Philip JI of Spain became King of '1'he ... asc with which fortunes were made in
Portugal, thus uniting the Spanish and the Manila encouraged a luxurious and futile lifestyle
Portuguese crowns. His policy in the East was which brought about laziness and a lack of
characterized by a remarkable lack of continuity: initiative among the Manilenos, a fact often
at times sending specific orders to Manila to carry commented upon by contemporary visitors and
on trade with near·by countries, thus greatly officials. Yet it should not be inferred that the
399 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES
Spaniards were entirely idle: in 1606 they to the Philippines were contracted for a fIxed
captured the Moluccan island of Tidore from the period of time to a single trader who paid a
Dutch who, the pre,ious year, had snatched it special tax to Goa for this monopoly. Marco
from the Portuguese. They managed to hold on d'Avalo, who wrote an account of Macao in the
to the tiny island, a large producer of cloves, until year 1638, has this to say about the event: "it was
1662. ordained that nobody could sail to Japan or the
Whereas the official policy directed towards Philippines without permission of this buyer,
having a foothold in the Spice Islands was which brought him excessive profIts" (Boxer 1984,
implemented, contact with the rest of Southeast p. 77).
Asia particularly with the mainland (Siam, In 1636 a royal decree was issued
Cambodia, Vietnam), was sporadic and for the forbidding trade ventures between the
most part left to soldiers of fortune. Portuguese and the Spanish. However, this did
One can conclude that the bulk of the not prevent merchandise from Macao being
merchandise that was shipped to New Spain from shipped to Manila. The Italian writer mentioned
Manila had reached the Philippines through two above, Marco d'Avalo, wrote in 1638 that: "As
main channels: the Portuguese and the Chinese. regards commerce; the citizens7 go, according to
the monsoons, to Manila (mostly Chinese) or to
Portuguese Trade Japan (whither only Portuguese go), carrying
their silk wares; white raw silk; cotton and hemp
The Spanish were forbidden to trade directly stuffe; china·ware, and all kinds of objects d'art;
with China, yet on one occasion they managed to vermillion. quick-silver, zinc or Tentago8 , alum
acquire a foothold in Chinese territory. In 1598 and several other sorts of metals and minerals.
a semiprivate expedition under Juan Zamudio was They leave Macau in April with three or four
granted permission to settle on an island near navettas or junks, in the southern monsoon, and
Guangzhou (Canton) which the Spanish named El usually return in October" (Boxer 1984, p. 76).
Pinal5 ; however the gain was short-lived. The The Portuguese solved the problem of the
relentless efforts of the Portuguese effectively embargo on trade with Manila by using Chinese
prevented the Spanish from trading directly with associates: even though profits were thus
China. considerably curtailed. Chinese goods shipped
Portuguese efforts to prevent trade between from Macao were acquired in Guangzhou where
the Spanish and the Chinese were manifold. the Portuguese were allowed to attend the bi­
Efforts aimed specifically at the Spanish took the annual trade fairs.
form of verbal protests against any violation of D'Avalo's account also gives us a detailed
the agreements then in force; and when "erbal list of Chinese goods exported to the Philippines.
protests were not enough, guns were used. As for Among them were porcelain and a number of
the Chinese, the Portuguese tried by all sorts of products which may have been carried in large
means to convince them that the Spanish could jars.
not and should not be trusted. There are several The trade monopoly given to a single
documents attesting to the fact that the merchant for a fIxed number of years (and often
Portuguese often succeeded in this goal, for a single year only) did not apply to other
particularly when the Chinese were further countries in Southeast Asia. These countries
discouraged from trading overseas by their own were unrestricted territory for all sorts of
government or as a result of the threat presented entrepreneurs who often carried their goods
by the Dutch or by pirates. directly to the Philippines, thus by-passing the
It is obvious that the Portuguese aimed at embargo on trade between Macao and Manila.
maintaining the monopoly of trade with the
Philippines. During the early decades of the Chinese Trade
seventeenth century, Portuguese ships plied the
route from Macao to the Philippines regularly, The Chinese from Guangzhou formed only
and in some years as many as ten naos6 weighed a small proportion of the Chinese merchants
anchor in the port of Manila. Schurz quotes arriving yearly in Manila. In March, junks sailed
Governor Fernando de Silva as saying in 1626: "If from a number of ports all along the Guangdong,
it were not for what has come from Macao, the Fujian and Zhejiang coasts as far north as Ningbo.
ships for New Spain would have nothing to carry" However, the majority of Chinese junks sailed
(Schurz 1956, p. 132). from Amoy and Quanzhou. The route to the
From 1630 onwards trade rights from Macao Philippines was one they knew well, having plied
PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 400
the South China Sea for centuries. The number China Sea along the coastal route that carried
of junks travelling to Manila varied greatly from their ships to Vietnam and Malaysia and from
year to year. For instance, in 1616 only seven there to either Siam or Indonesia and Borneo.
came, but in 1631 there were fIfty and in 1636 The monsoon held no secrets for them and they
thirty junks arrived in Manila (Schurz 1959, p. knew how to sail across open seas to the
71). It is quite possible that one or more of the Philippines.
junks which arrived in 1636 carried some of the By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the
porcelain or jars which were salvaged from the Chinese Imperial navy, so powerful under the
Concepci6n 350 later. command of Zheng He during the early fIfteenth
There were many reasons why on some century, was now reduced to a few warships
occasions there were only a few junks travelling to incapable of offering protection to sea-goingjunks.
Manila while at other times there were dozens of As their only protective measure, the junks
them: junks were defenseless and when the usually travelled in convoy.
pirates were particularly aggressive the Chinese In Manila, trade with the Chinese was
merchants would not venture onto the high seas, regulated by the rigid system of the pancada, a
either of their own accord or because their system which had already been adopted by the
government forbade them to do so. If the Portuguese when dealing with the Chinese in
Chinese were aware that the galleon from New Guangzhou. The pancada consisted of a fIxed
Spain had failed to arrive in Manila the previous wholesale price negotiated between a small
year, they knew that there was no point in committee of two or three Spanish appointed by
bringing their merchandise there because the the Government and the captain of each junk.
Spanish would have no silver to pay for it. This practice avoided price increases resulting
Like\\~se, the years in which the junks arrived by from competition.
the scores in Manila usually coincided with a Schurz quotes Antonio de Morga's list of
period in which the Iberian government had goods brought to Manila by the Chinese (Schurz
forbidden the Portuguese to trade with the 1959, pp. 73, 74). First and foremost were all
Spanish. sorts of silk textiles, the staple of the Galleon
Contrary to the European merchants who Trade; then came metal objects as well as
operated either under direct orders of the crown considerable amounts of saltpetre and gunpowder.
(as was often the case with the Portuguese), or Also from China came a great variety of delicacies
were strongly backed by their government (as was such as preserved fruit and ginger; wheat flour;
the case for the Dutch East India Company), the fresh vegetables and fruit; many sorts of live
Chinese merchants had to fend for themselves. animals (horses~ geese, capons, etc.); and "fine
China had no offlcial sea trade policy except crockery of all sorts·'. To end with de Morga's
for the tribute-gift system that had been words: ·· ...and rarities, which. did I refer to them
implemented since Han times and which, during ail, I would never finish nor have sufficient paper
the late Ming Dynasty, was strictly regulated by for it"· (Schurz 1959, p. 74).
the Bureau of Maritime Trade. The tribute­ Although de Morga does not specifIcally
bearing missions were presented with gifts from mention porcelain or jars, it can be surmised that
the Chinese government, these "gifts·· being IIfme crockery of all sorts'l referred to porcelain
similar in value to that of the I'tribute" offered. and most of the goods mentioned in his list must
This complex form of goods exchange had come have been shipped in stoneware jars.
about because Confucianism despises trade
activities, on the grounds that they bring profIts
to some at the expense of others. It would have THE MANUFAGTIJRE OF CERAMICS
been unthinkable for the Imperial government to
engage in such lowly activities. In the West, ceramics are divided into three
Consequently, trade had been carried on categories: porcelain, stoneware and earthenware.
traditionally either by foreign merchants, Middle The Chinese do not make a distinction between
Eastern and Southeast Asian, or by private the fIrst two and divide ceramics into two
Chinese merchants. Taxes were not paid to the categories: high-fIred wares' (which include
Imperial government but were due to local porcelain and stoneware) and low-fIred wares or
authorities. From the middle of the sixteenth pottery (earthenware).
century onwards the Portuguese effectively Porcelain has three characteristics: it is
eliminated competition from other foreign traders white, translucent and resonant. To obtain these
while the Chinese continued to ply the South characteristics it is necessary to mix two basic
401 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES
ingredients: kaolin 10 (China clay or primary clay) were different ways in which a vessel could be
and petuntse" (China stone), both of which molded: one was to shape it flrst on the whee!
originate from igneous rock, mainly granite, but at and then press it into twin molds; or the clay
different stages of decomposition. Kaolin, a pure· could be pressed into a slab over a piece of coarse
white, only moderately·plastic clay, fuses at about cloth and then transferred to a mould. The latter
1,750 Co, a temperature which cannot be reached method was used for large dishes while the
in a normal kiln. Petuntse is a less decomposed former was commonly used for bowls.
white rock which vitrifies at a lower temperature. Closed forms, such as bottles, were thrown
The Chinese call these two substances the "bones" on the wheel and shaped in two or more sections
and the "flesh" of porcelain. The proportion in which were subsequently luted. Luting was also
which they are mixed varies enormously; each used for spouts and handles which were shaped
potter has his own formula, but generally a flfty· separately.
flfty mixture gives the fmest porcelain. The Once the pieces were properly shaped and
amount of petuntse can be increased to three· fInished they were left to dry for a period that
quarters to one·quarter of kaolin for coarser lasted from a few days to as long as a year,
porcelain. depending on the quality of the wares (the drier
After kaolin and petuntse have been nlixed the wares the less probability there is of them
in the required proportions, water and a flux warping during flring). Once dried, the vessels
(mineral salts which lower the fusing point) are were ready to be IIshaved" to the required
added. Then the arduous work of preparing the thinness and fmal shape.
clay begins. The nlixture is placed in hollows in A number of techniques were used to
the ground or in large tubs where it is trodden by decorate a vessel: molding might be used to
water buffaloes or by men and boys (today this impress a pattern on either the inside or the
task is done by machines) until all impurities have outside walls or, by using twin molds, on both
settled at the bottom. The purified paste is then sides; a pattern could be fmely etched (as in the
left to rest for several years. Once it has matured almost invisible anhua decoration) or deeply
it still requires a great deal of handling to carved; several mineral oxides could be used to
eliminate the air bubbles that could expand and paint colored motifs under the glaze while
burst during fIring. enamels were used to decorate a vessel over the
Stoneware, unlike porcelain, is neither \vbite glaze. No vegetable pigments were ever used on
nor translucent and it is only moderately ceramics because the organic matter would burn
resonant. The one characteristic which stoneware at kiln temperature.
and porcelain have in common is that of being At the end of the Ming Dynasty the most
non-porous as a result of the vitrification which common decoration was that of underglaze blue.
occurs at the high temperatures at which both are At that time, this method of decoration consisted
flred (about 1,300 Co 12). Stoneware is made of applying cobalt oxide on the unfIred body;
from secondary claysl3 sufficiently free of nowadays it is painted on the IIbiscuie (a vessel
impurities to allow high fIring temperatures which has already been fIred and which will be
without collapsing. The presence of minerals in refIred after having been painted and glazed).
the clay gives a wide range of colors from reddish This later technique minimizes the difficulties
to gray and buff. with which the Ming painter had to deal: if he
Earthenware is made from secondary clays loaded his brush with too much diluted cobalt, or
which contain a great deal of impurities which hesitated slightly, a smudge would inevitably
would burst or burn out at high temperatures. appear and the resulting flow would be impossible
When this occurs, the structure of the vessel is so to correct.
weakened that it collapses. Consequently By the fIfteenth century good· quality cobalt
earthenware is flred at temperatures ranging ore was available from a mine in Jiangxi Province,
from 600 Co to a maximum of 1,100 Co. not far from Jingdezhen. However it contained
Vitrification does not occur at these temperatures manganese, an impurity which had to be
and, as a result, earthenware is porous unless eliminated before the cobalt could be used.
covered with a glaze which then renders it Furthermore, the ore had to be ground into
impervious. minute particles because cobalt acts as a flux and
During the Ming Dynasty, throwing on the consequently must be used in minimal quantities,
wheel and molding were the two basic shaping otherwise the glaze covering the painted areas
techniques. Molding was usually reserved for melts away and the exposed cobalt, on contact
lIopenli forms such as bowls and dishes. There with air, oxidizes and becomes an ugly reddish
PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES 402
brown instead of the desired blue color. with a wide, rounded front and a narrow end.
Once the wares had been decorated They were usually smaller than a Chinese dragon
(whether ,,1:h 'r:cised, molded or painted motifs) kiln, although kilns excavated at the Bang
they wero glazed, that is to say they wore covered Rachang kiln site are up to 15 meters long'·.
,dth a mixmre of diluted petuntse, fern ash and By the sixteenth century, Chinese potters
linoe. The proportions of the ingredients varied a were highly skilled in controlling the high
great deal, glaze formulae being countless and temperatures req:tired to nre porcelain and in
well-guarded secrets passed down from father to obtaining the appropriate atmosphere, whether
son. Most glazes had a slight percentage of iron oxidizing or reducing, inside the kiln.
oxide which, dUl'ing firing in a reducing A reducing atmosphere is obtained by
atmosphere, lent a greenish or bluish tinge to the limiting the amount of air in the fIring chamber
glaze. As the composition of body and glaze are and by producing a smoky fire. Flames naturally
very similar (basically petuntse), during firing absorb the oxygen which is necessary for
they melt and fuse and when the temperature combustion, while wood smoke contains carbon
drops they vitrify and virtually form a single mass. monoxide which also reduces the oxygen content.
If one looks at a shard, it is almost impossible to Once all the oxygen inside the kiln has been
see the demarcation line between body and glaze. absorbed by these two elements, the nre extracts
However, in some instances the raw materials are the oxygen content from metal oxides. In the
not as compatible as they ought to be in which ease of underglaze blue, the cobalt oxide acquires
case, during the cooling period after firing, body its blue color by being transformed into cobalt
and glaze shrink at a different pace leaving small silicate, while the iron present in small quantities
areas on rims bare of glaze. This condition, which in the glaze produces the bluish or greenish tinge
is very common on Kraak wares is called "moth so typical of late Ming Blue and V,llite porcelain.
l
eaten" edges. Glazes with a high iron content (often found on
The all-important difference between a stoneware) will turn green if fired in a reducing
fInished pot and shaped clay is that the fIrst has atmosphere (e.g. celadons) or brovm (in many
been fIred and the second has not. As long as a shades up to black) if fIred in an oxidizing
pot has not being fIred it is only shaped clay atmosphere, when fresh air (oxygen) is allowed
which can be re-shaped at will, but once it has inside the kiln.
been fired, plasticity is lost for ever. Ceramic Saggars were used to prevent the
wares are fIred in kilns of different shapes. blemishing of the glaze by falling ashes and to
Kilns in South Chi-m are built v>'ith bricks obtain an even distribution of heat around each
and are known as dragon kilns because they are pot. These thick cylindricm containers made of
long and narrow and, being built on tbe slope of fire-clay could hold one large piece of porcelain or
a hill, they have a firing cl:amber at the lower several small ones stacked one on top ofthe other
part (the mouth of the dragon) and a chimney at and separated by tiny day balls.
the other end and higher part (the tail of the Sand was sprinkled on the bottom of the
dragon). In more sophisticated dragon kilns (e.g. saggar to prevent the pots from adhering to the
those operating in Jingdezhen) the body is divided bottom of the saggar, should the glaze happen to
into interconnecting chambers (one behind the run down (after cooling it was easy to rub off the
other) and each is a little higher than the sand that had adhered to the footrings). For very
previous one so that the hot air flows easily from good pieces, the sand used was as fme as powder;
one to the other. Each chamber has an oval the coarser the ware, the coarser the sand.
opening which is sealed with bricks during the Today, at ,Tingdezhen, millet is used instead of
flring period and is broken open once the wares sand.
are ready. Kilns of this type are often 15 to 20 For mass-produced porcelain (particularly
meters long and four or five meters high and they that intended for export), the potters did not
can fire more than 20,000 pieces at a time. waste their time polishing the sand which had
The simplest kind of dragon kiln is still become stuck to the footring and, as a result, the
commonly found in Southeast Asia, wherever a majority of Kraak porcelain and provincial wares
family of Chinese potters has settled, and have this flaw.
arehaeological sites show that the multi­ Although by the sixteenth century the
chambered kiln was also used in several countries Chinese potter had attained remarkable skills in
of this region. Thai kilns producing stoneware firing techniques, numerous things could go
were operating on the same principle as that of a wrong. Rare indeed was the case in which a full
dragon kiln but the shape was slightly different kiln-load was one hundred percent successful.
403 PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES
Badly prepared clay could result in warping, or a hard, lffiworkable mass. Yet the output could
worse, in sagging. A little air from a peep-hole reach millions of pieces a year. Although
could cause vessels in that chamber to half­ Jingdezhen was capable of mass production, one
oxidize, or the temperature in the higher should not imagine it as a single pottery of
chambers could fail to reach the minimum mammoth dimensions. Quite the contrary, it
requlred for vitrification. The wastage was consisted of a great number of diverse
enormo'!.1S. enterprises: some potteries were small family
Once the kiln had cooled down, a process business while others enjoyed official and even
which could take several days, it was unloaded Imperial patronage. Often a number of potteries
and the wasters discarded. The porcelain was would join into loose cooperatives and thus be
packed in straw and was then ready to be able to cope with large orders.
shipped, in wooden tubs, to ports along the coasts This arrangement allowed great flexibility
of the East and South China Seas for export to as some potteries specialized in only one type of
wherever Chinese jilllks and European ships wares while others catered to different markets.
would take it. Some potteries produced wares ofsuperior quality
for the Imperial palace and employed highly
skilled potters, while others specialized in
CHINESE CERAMIC PRODUCTION AND
cheaper, mass-produced wares for export, as was
DISTRlBUTlON NETWORK
the case for Kraak porcelain.
Over the centuries Jingdezhen had been
Since neolithic times China has excelled in affected by the vicissitudes dictated by historical
pottery making and the world owes her the events, and in the 16305 it began to feel the shock
invention of porcelain. China was producing this waves produced by the crumbling of the Ming
white, resonant and translucent material no less Dynasty. The aging Dynasty was threatened from
than a thousand years earlier than it was made in all quarters: pirates on the seas, warring Mongols
Europe". from the north and peasant revolts ,vithin its own
Over the centuries countless potteries all territory. The corrunt Ming 1JY71asty survived for
over Cl'>ina acquired fame for the produetion of a few more years bu: it collapsed under the sword
cne ware or another, but from the twelfth of the invading Manchus who founded the Qing
century onwards the town ofJingdezhen emerged Dynasty in 1644.
as the porcelain capital not only of China but of In those unsettled times, the money the
the world, a position which it retained until the co,,,,: and gentry would normally have spent on
end of the eighteenth C~j.j'UJy. the yearly orders of l:igh'quality porcelain was
.Jingdezhen is situated on the banks of the diverted to pay the armies fighting the Manchus
Cinmg river near Poyang lake in north .Jiangxi in the north. MallY a pottery, especially those
Province. The town owes its success to the employing highly skilled labor, found themselves
excellent quality of its kaolin and petuntse - the vlfithout patrons.
two main ingredients in porcelain making ­ This situation, however, coincided with an
available nearby, and to the water routes linking increased demand for export porcelain from the
it with coastal ports such as Guangzhou in Europeans who were no longer satisfied with the
Guangdong Province and Quanzhou and Arnoy in cheap, mass produced wares which were being
Fujian Province. sold to them (e.g. Kraak porcelain); they requlred
By the time the Europeans began buying the higher quality, better painted wares.
wares produced at Jingdezher. ir. the sixteenth These factors were to crystallize into the
century, Jingdezhen had evolved into a hlghly production of Transitional wares. The more
sophisticated ceramic center. Hundreds of kilns skilled potters, who had found themselves without
fired vessels which had gone through the hand.s of a job following the loss of court patronage, lent
countless potters, with each potter specializing in their skills to potteries that were prepared to
a single function: one trimmed [ootrings, another produce high-quality wares for the foreign
shaved the pots to the required thinness, still market.
another painted a single motif and then passed 'ro understand this new development fully
the pots to another painter who would depict yet we must. look back at the commercial side of the
a different motif, and so on. ceramic industry and see how it functioned during
Ceramic production at Jingdezhen was a the fIrst half of the seventeenth century.
seasonal activity carried out during the warmer Until recently the Chinese ceramic industry
months of the year, as in winter the clay froze to has been seen as a somewhat two-faceted activity:
PACIFIC SEA RESOURCES
404
on one hand the producer (i.e. the potter) who production ofpotters. Were they not after all the
would not only make the ceramic wares but also ones who selected the Wlll'eS which wouid be sold
ship them to the export cities; on the other the to the foreigners. In fact, many of the landscape
buyers, mainly Europeans, who collected the scenes sO frequently depicted on porcelain from
wares from Guangzhou, Formosa or Manila. the 1630s onwlll'd lS show a strong influence from
Yet in recent yelll's it has become the Huizhou style of painting. Numerous
increasingly delll' to schollll's that this was an examples of this style are available in books and
over-simplified picture and that an important link woodblock prints (Cahill ed. 1981)19.
-that between producer and buyer -was missing. Although it was the most important center
It is now known that this gap was filled by a of porcelaln making, Jingdezhen did not have a
group or groups of Chinese merchants who dealt monopoly: countless potteries allover China were
directly with the Europeans, accepting their producing porcelain of various types. And many
orders for porcelain and then travelling up­ potteries in Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong
country to deal with the potters in Jingdezhen. prm-1nces produced cheaper, coarser wares which,
explaining to them the requirements of their due to the kilns' proximity to ports such as Amoy
clients. Almost invlll'iably it was these merchants and Quanzhou, were often exported to Sout.heast
who put up the money to buy the raw materials Asia. These kilns were small and often run by a
needed to fulfill the orders and to cover the risks single family.
of kiln failure. The potters provided their Since the wares produced by these
equipment and labor while the merchants potter:es are not very distinctive except for t.heir
provided the capital and commercial network. coarseness, it is often impossible to assign them to
It is obvious that the merchants had to put any given kiln. Hence they are described with the
up the money not only to produce the Wlll'CS but all encompassing term of provincial wares or
also to ship them to the ports of destination" and wares made in provincial kilns.
to provide storage facilities, often for a lengthy Almost all cargoes salvaged from shipwrecks
period of time, until the ships eouid sail with the have yielded some provincial wares alOIlg with the
monsoon. Frequently the merchants had to wait main toad of Jingdezhen porcelain. The Clll'go
for some time before the Europeans paid for a from the Concepcion is no exception and together
consignment; this WaB especially true for the ,,-jth the fmer porcelaln shlll'ds there are a few
Portuguese who were chronically short of cash. coarser OIles that can be assigned to provincial
These merchants often financed the junks that kilns (see PI. 32). They are characterized by a
sailed towards Southeast Asia and in particuia:r tc rather coarse eiay. sketchily drawn motifs in a
the Philippines. grayish or blackish blue and a cracked glaze which
All this required a sophisticated network often has a greenish or grayish tinge.
with a very substantial working capital. It is most Wllereas some of these provincial kilns
likely that this network was controlled by a group produced porcelain, others produced stoneware
of wealthy merchants from Huizhou in Anhui with some potters specializing in stonewarejars of
Province about 100 miles north of Jingdezhen. various sizes and shapes. These were used as
The prosperity cf these Huizhou merchants containers and were indispensable for the safe
was based on the salt trade ,,'lith which they had transport of merchandise from production centers
been involved since Song times. By the to consumer mlll'kets. The jlll'S were cheap and
seventeenth century they had extended their eaBY to make and this explains why, although far
interests to many different goods, including less practical than a square container", they
porcelam. As their wealth increased they represented the most common type of container
naturally tried to rise to a higher social status by recovered from shipwrecks.
scholarly attainments and patronage of the arts'7 • It was common practice to re-use these jars,
Painters and poets were often associated with once emptied of their merchandise, and so one
them and they also fmanced the printing of books. ship might containja:rs from many different parts
Itis probable that their taste influenced the ofA~
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