New Book on Thai Ceramics
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Southeast Asian Ceramics Museum Newsletter Editors : Volume II Number 6 August 2005 Roxanna M. Brown Pariwat Thammapreechakorn Shipwreck ceramics for sale in Kuala Lumpur Reporters : THOUSANDS OF MING blue and September where 15 selected Bonnie Baskin, Peter Burns, white porcelain, celadon and Philippe Colomban, Eusebio pieces will be auctioned. underglaze black ware from The sale comes after the ex- Dizon, Pamela Gutman, Gary nine shipwreck sites will go on Hill, Walter Kassela, Timothy cavation of The Wanli Ship- Rebbeck, David Rehfuss, Jenni- sale at the Kuala Lumpur Con- wreck and the legal sharing of fer Rodrigo, Dawn Rooney, vention Centre from 2-11 Sep- the recovered artifacts between Mohd. Sherman bin Sauffi, tember 2005. The wreck sites Nanhai Marine Archaeology Sten Sjostrand, Heidi Tan, cover three major periods in and the Department of Muse- Augustine Vinh shipwreck history: the Southeast ums and Antiquities. Ceramics Asian golden age of 14th-16th were shared in agreed propor- centuries, pre-S. E. Asian, and tions in the case of multiple post-S. E. Asian periods. The Museum staff : examples. The very best exam- oldest site offers Chinese ware ples and unique pieces, how- Burin Singtoaj from the 10th-11th centuries; and ever, went only to the depart- the latest two belong to the 17th ment. The sale ceramics come and 19th centuries. from Sjostrand’s share, which Sales will begin on Saturday he is allowed to sell in order to afternoon, 2 September, after a recover the expenses of the public symposium on ship- excavation. wrecks and shipwreck ceramics A 30-minute introduction to Southeast Asian Ceramics is presented at 8:30 – 1 p.m. Museum shipwrecks will be shown on The speakers include Sten Malaysian Airlines incoming Bangkok University Sjostrand, who excavated the Rangsit Campus flights beginning in August. Phahonyothin Road wrecksites; Roxanna M. Brown Prices will range from about Pathum Thani 12120 from the Southeast Asian Ce- US$15 to $1000-5000. For ramics Museum; Valerie Ester- more information, see www. Tel.: (66-2) 902-0299 huizen, a specialist on Chinese treasuresofthenanhai.com. Ext.:2892 ceramics from shipwrecks off Fax.:(66-2)516-6115 the South African coast; Cao Jian Top to bottom: sale logo; Wen from the Jingdezhen Ce- kendi and dish, Wanli Wreck. [email protected] ramics Institute; and Dato Adi Two curators from the Na- Haji Taha, Director General of tional Museum, Sharifa Lok the Department of Museums and Lok binti Syed Idrus and Antiquities. Mohd. Hazilas bin Mat Inside this issue: Malayia’s Minister of Culture, Hashim help document Wanli Arts and Heritage, Dato’ Seri Dr. Wreck ceramics. A full ar- Rais Yatim, will attend a pre-sale chaeological report & cata- gala dinner on Thursday 1st logue will appear in 2006. Letter from 1 the editor Letter from the editor In memory: Tran Quoc Vuong ON HIS WAY to Bangkok, Tran Ky Phuong (Champa story, Letters to the edi- 2 p. 3) stopped in Hanoi to visit Tran Quoc Vuong, a leading tor Vietnamese historian who was in hospital with cancer. Then, on 8th August, Vietnamese news sources reported that News briefs 2- Vuong had died early that morning. I had met both Vuong 3 and Ky on a research trip to Vietnam in 1990, and both scholars have considerably enriched my life since then. The New book 4 last time I saw Vuong was in Singapore in August 2004 at a Champa conference when he looked a bit frail but still flowed with energy. Without Vuong’s presence, Vietnam studies will not be so vibrant. Nonetheless he leaves behind legions of students. Vuong is seen here with Peter Burns (Univ of Adelaide) and at the Champa Museum, Danang in 1990. Page 2 Southeast Asian Ceramics Museum Newsletter Letters to the editor Pariwat thesis More on Sunchi I read with interest about Pari- While cleaning the wat's thesis. I wonder if there is shard with a Chinese any chance of asking him for a mark [shown in June copy - is it in English ? It's a 2005 newsletter], we topic that I was interested in found another mark on when I was at SOAS but did not the other side. Can you get much chance to pursue. identify it? — Heidi Tan, Singapore — Sila Tripati, Goa Editor: The thesis is written in Thai, but Pariwat will be happy to send Editor: Pariwat Thammapreechakorn, our in-house Chinese reader, had a new look at copies on CD-ROM to whoever is the original mark. It is not clearly written, but he says the upper character is most interested. The title in English is likely yong ('forever') and the lower one ,zhen ('precious, rare.') He thinks the piece is ‘Using Dated Chinese & Vietnamese 18th century. See Gerald Davison, The Handbook of Marks on Chinese Ceramics. Ceramics for Studying Thai Ar- London: Han-Shan Tang Book, 1994. (yong is #64, p. 41; zhen is #122, p. 43) The chaeological Works oand Art Styles: newly discovered mark looks like a fungus. An example is illustrated in Davison, p. A Case Study on 14th-18th Centu- 26, on the base of a Kangxi (1662-1722) period bowl. ries Stucco Decoration on Ancient Monuments in Thailand.’ Essentially Pariwat divides stucco study into 4 periods. In Phase I, about 13th-15th C., there is no (Ceramics care, continued) stucco, which appears in Phase II (about mid 15th-16th C.) when taining critical levels of soluble salts influences from ceramics are most are at risk of spalling as the salts in evident. There is internal evolution their pores expand and contract with rather than further borrowing in fluctuations in humidity. Fluctuations Phase III (mid 16th-early 17th C.) may also cause dirt in cracks to ex- and in Phase IV (mid 17th-mid 18th pand and contract, since dirt attracts C.) when the fully evolved unique moisture, and this can produce flak- Vietnamese? In Ayutthaya stucco styles attained ing. In short, fluctuations in humid- regards to #485 their height. ity, more than level (%) of humidity at Hantmans can be a problem. On the other hand, auction [June I know of one case in which high 2005 newslet- humidity in a dim unventilated room ter], I see that Ceramics care caused mold to grow on a pot. As you Thank you so much for Bonnie Baskin’s elsewhere. So you need to stay vigi- answers to my questions in your July lant. identify it as Vietnamese. Do you have a 2005 issue! I have an interest because reference? of my small collection, and I thought Timothy Rebbeck asks: [3] For ship- —David Rehfuss, Washington, D. C. others would appreciate the answers wreck pieces (even de-salinated ones) too. I hope you don’t mind more ques- are there ways to maintain the glaze? Editor: I wrote a little about this later tions, for instance: [1] Is light exposure I am careful with them but the glaze Vietnamese material in the 2nd edition a problem (presumably pieces will is sometimes cracked. Is there a dan- of my book, The Ceramics of South-East fade/deteriorate if exposed to light)? ger that chips may come off? Also, Asia (1988; reprinted by Art Media [2] Second, Is there an optimal humid- the glaze on these is sometimes rough Resources, 2000). The identification is ity for keeping these pieces, or does it so they appear to collect dirt easier. based on pieces in the Sarawak Mu- matter? seum. The collection there includes —Timothy Rebbeck, Philadelphia Bonnie Baskin answers: You’re right Vietnamese blue & white copies of Chi- about the problems of rough cracked nese Wanli (1573-1619) period ware. Editor: Altogether Tim sent 5 more glazes. I’d recommend asking a con- From the blue & white, the clay, shapes, questions which Ms Baskin has kindly servator to examine them and see if decorative style etc lead one to a com- answered. The first three are answered they need consolidation. Consolida- fortable identification of Vietnamese below and the others will appear in tion — repeated applications of a polychrome pieces. I meant to write a coming issues of the newsletter. diluted archival-quality resin deliv- separate article on this identification, ered on a fine brush — gradually but it’s never gotten done. Someone else Bonnie Baskin answers: Light is nor- builds up invisible bridges between needs to go there & detail the evidence mally not a problem, with a few excep- cracks and fills voids between flakes step by step. There is also at least one tions. Post-fired paint may fade dra- of glaze and the clay body. The glaze piece of the later Vietnamese poly- matically from light, and I’ve seen mi- re-attaches, re-integrates, and be- chrome in the Bangkok National Mu- nor fading in deteriorated glazes and comes stable as well as smoother to seum that is identified as Bencharong the black markings produced by open the touch. ware. Perhaps it was made in the mid firing. 17th century when the Chinese kilns About humidity: Humidity is also not were closed for a time. a problem, except that ceramics con- To be continued next issue. Volume II Number 6 August 2005 Page 3 Origins of Bagan thesis available online Bob Hudson has announced that his thesis, The Origins of Bagan: the archaeological landscape of Upper Burma to AD 1300, is available online, courtesy of the University of Sydney, at http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/adt/public_html/adt-NU20050721.144907/index.html. His 2004 excavations at Bagan at a site reputed to be the palace of the 11th-century King Anawratha yielded some interesting glazed ware.