Southeast Asian Ceramics Museum Newsletter Volume V Number 2 March-April 2008 China ship? Comments by Pierre-Yves Manguin on ing from the well represented three sentations of sailing ships, as they are the ship (identifying it as S. E. Asian) masts. These are not tripod masts, as under water. Conversely, the images drawn on a Vietnamese plate appeared expected on some Malay-world ships; rarely give clues about ship struc- in our July-Aug 2007 issue, and K. L. Tam argued that it was Chinese in the Sept- they are rather Chinese (or Vietnam- ture (rigging, and much of what is Oct 2007 issue. The plate itself (a stem- ese), as noted by K. L. Tam. But we found above deck is known to be eas- plate, from the Hoi An wrecksite, AD know of 16th C similar masts in S. E. ily modified; the hull structure is far 1480-1505) belongs to Ho Chi Minh City Asian ships depicted in the late 16th more resilient; one example: the well collector Nguyen Van Dzong. Manguin to the early 19th C. See for instance known Bugis pinisi of the 1970s had gives a final assessment below. -Editor Godinho de Eredia’s jong of the Chi- long used European rig – hence their nese of Melaka (with S. E. Asian quar- Dutch name – but hulls were still built ter rudders and Chinese style sails). exactly as in the 16th C, in a pure S. [drawing below] E. Asian tradition). Fortunately, this plate shows one structural detail (the Protruding keel “Now the hull. There is no way the protruding timber (yellow) at the stem can be part of the smaller sampan in the background. The depiction is per- fectly clear: the keel piece of the large ship projects in front of the triangular, “I maintain most of what I said earlier (except the Madura vessel I referred to is a janggolan, not a golekan). protruding keel piece) that can be put Deck and superstructure to good use. Unfortunately, the tell- “The superstructures on deck (the tale steering gear (i.e. quarter rudders pagoda like aft-castle) is very decora- at the sides) is not represented in this tive, and does not make much sense case. What we have therefore is a mix for a true sea-going ship (it would be of ‘Chinese’ and S. E. Asian. It is most flat stem panel. Such a flat stem post completely un-seaworthy); either it probably another representative of the is indeed to be found on the Sinan is due to the artist’s freedom, which I hybrid ‘South China Sea tradition’. “ wreck (Korean or Chinese ship?), and doubt, since the rest is very well rep- -- Pierre-Yves Manguin, EFEO on some sailing vessels observed in resented, or this is a ceremonial boat the early 20th C in Chinese waters (see of some sort, a hypothesis reinforced Worcester’s books); however, none of by the seated character on the deck, them have a protruding keel piece. in a central position, under a large This is a typically S. E. Asian feature. umbrella. Its overall style is ‘Chinese’ (It is well documented and originates like, indeed … as expected on a Viet- from the fact that plank-built boats namese dish. No conclusions can be evolved from enlarged dugout ca- drawn from this point. noes). I enclose pictures of two Mad- “The ship is otherwise very well de- urese janggolan, both taken in 1981 on picted and appears to be large, judg- the coasts of Java. The protruding keel is clearly visible on both, as is the flat, triangular stem post. This issue: “As a matter of conclusion, we China ship? 1 should first remark the difficulties in comparing depictions of sailing Letters to the editor 2-3 vessels and what we know of them Zoomorphic spouts 3 from contemporary shipwrecks. The archaeological site usually preserves Ko Kong wreck 3 only the bottom timbers, those, pre- Zhangzhou catalogue 4 cisely that are not depicted in repre- Southeast Asian Ceramics Museum Newsletter V 2 March-April 2008 page 2 Arabic date? Editor: Letters to The duck bowl with the possible Is- Roxanna M. Brown lamic date [Letters, Jan-Feb 2008 is- Reporters: the Editor sue] is identical to those from the Ang Choulean, Ann Proctor, Ms Bui thi Hy? Binh Thuan Wreck, although the base Augustine Vinh, Berenice Bell- seems a little coarser. I’ve dated the ina, Bonnie Baskin, Chang The Chinese character 戯 on the Viet- Binh Thuan [Christie’s Australia 2004] Kuang-Jen, Chhay Rachna, nam vase is NOT part of a name. [See Chhay Visoth, Chui Mei Ho, to around 1608 – so the proposed Is- page 1, July-August 2007 issue; vase David Rehfuss, Dawn Rooney, lamic date of 1580 is not far off. shown below] Together with the next Don Hein, Donald Stadtner, -- Mike Flecker, Singapore Edward Von der Porten, Else character zuo they formed one phrase Geraets, Eusebio Dizon, Gary ‘戯作’ : ‘done for fun’ or ‘made for Wanli Shipwreck Hill, Guo Li, Hab Touch, Heidi pleasure’. One finds this expression Last week I received my copy of The Tan, Horst Liebner, Ian Glover, frequently on Chinese artifacts. Wanli Shipwreck and it’s Ceramic Cargo. Jennifer Rodrigo, John Klein- Although one cannot completely [Sept-Oct 2007] Interesting. Nearby en, Leng Rattanak, Li Jianan, the old city of Banten (Java, Indone- Louise Cort, Marie-France exclude the possibility that Bui Thi Dupoizat, Melody Rod-ari, (裴氏‘Pei shi’) was a woman, the sia) there is a village with coconut Michael Flecker, Mohd. Sher- chance that it means ‘the man whose plantations. The villagers find many man bin Sauffi, Ngueyn Xuan surname is Bui’ is much greater. In broken Chinese ceramics when they Hien, Pamela Gutman, Patrick Tang dynasty China there was a well dig on their land. The pieces belong to McGlyn, Peter Burns, Philippe 封氏闻见记 the Wanli period through to the tran- Colomban, Pierre-Yves Man- known book (Things guin, Rasmi Shoocongdej, Rita heard and seen by Feng shi), and in the sitional period. [photo below] Tan, Sayan Praicharnjit, Shih Song dynasty there was a book called Ching-fei, Sten Sjostrand, Tim Things heard and seen by Shao shi (邵 Hartill, Timothy Rebbeck, Tira 氏闻见录). Both persons – surnamed Vanichtheeranont, Tran Ky Phuong,, Zheng Jin Ie Feng and surnamed Shao -- were well known scholars. In other words, it Editorial staff: was more likely that those who had Burin Singtoaj made a reputation would use their Walter Kassela surname only. The character shi here Southeast Asian Ceramics had nothing to do with gender and Museum was in fact especially not designated Bangkok University Rangsit Campus for referring to a woman in the world Phahonyothin Road of letters. The digging is forbidden by the gov- Pathum Thani 12120 When someone in contemporary ernment but they don’t do anything Tel.: (66-2) 902-0299 Vietnam combined the ‘Bui thi’ with about it. I’ve heard about villagers Ext. 2892 the next character ‘Hi’ into a name, giving shards to the Banten Museum. Fax: (66-2) 516-6115 I also hear that they sell the shards. the possibility of ‘Bui Thi’ being a [email protected] woman became zero. The character Maybe they sell to Japan or China. I 戯 Past newsletters at can only be ‘Hi’ in Vietnamese, not noticed during a trip to Jingdezhen http://museum.bu.ac.th ‘Hy’ as the person claimed. ‘Hi’ means five years ago that they were selling ‘[horse] neighing’, and could hardly shards to tourists. It would be funny if be used for any girl’s name. --Li Tana, they were shards from Banten. From the editor Australian National University From one pit they find broken pieces from various types of ware, but some- Semester break times they find many pieces of only MUSEUM CLOSED one type. In some places the shards 2-10 MARCH 2008 are two meters deep. Maybe some are below debris left by the eruption of Since the museum is inside the Rang- Mount Krakatoa in 1878. sit campus, we must close whenever --Zheng Jin Ie, Jakarta the university closes. We are so sorry! In regards to our Page 1 feature, Champa ceramics I want to add that whenever ship re- I would like to inform you that our Go mains from around the time of the Sanh-Champa Ceramics Museum has Hoi An shipwreck have been inves- been recognized by the competent au- tigated, they have been identified as thorities as the first Champa ceramics Southeast Asia vessels. This includes museum in Vietnam. We look for- the Pandanan (c. 1470), and the Ko ward to co-operating in projects relat- Si Chang III, Hoi An, Australia Tide, ing to the research and promotion of Lena Shoal and Santa Cruz (all circa the ceramics. --Nguyen Vinh Hao, 1480-1510) ships. The Chinese chron- icles themselves note the high num- Go Sanh-Champa Ceramics Museum, Bottle-vase, inscribed with a Vietnam bers of foreign ships coming to China reign date equivalent to AD 1450. 173 Le Hong Phong, Quy Nhon City, in the Hongzhi (1488-1505) reign. Topkapi Sarayi Museum, Istanbul Vietnam -- R. M. Brown Southeast Asian Ceramics Museum Newsletter V 2 March-April 2008 page 3 Oldest naga & hamsa spouts SILPAKORN UNIVERSITY archae- published in the Thai language Art & ologist Thanik Lercharnrit has sent il- Culture Magazine (Vol. 28/8 June 2007). lustrations [far right] of naga (serpent) The spouts are strong evidence for and hamsa (swan-like bird, vehicle of contact with Hindu India, although Brahma) spouts from his 2006 exca- naga spirits (protectors of the land) vation at Ban Promtin Tai, Lopburi, may have at least an equally long his- Thailand.