Southeast Asian Ceramics Museum Newsletter Volume IV Number 4 July-August 2007 Editor: Roxanna M. Brown Khmer kiln Reporters: Ang Choulean, Ann Proctor, excavation Augustine Vinh, Berenice Bellina, Bonnie Baskin, Chang Report progess, Kuang-Jen, Chhay Visoth, Chui Mei Ho, David Rehfuss, 11th C. AMS date Dawn Rooney, Don Hein, Donald Stadtner, Edward Von CAMBODIAN archaeologists Heng Piphal der Porten, Else Geraets, Euse- and Chhay Rachna have sent news on Thnal bio Dizon, Gary Hill, Guo Mrech kiln 2 (TMK 002). It is one of two Li, Heidi Tan, Horst Liebner, kilns excavated (by two different teams) on Ian Glover, Jennifer Rodrigo, Phnom Kulen this last January 2007 (Jan- John Kleinen, Leng Rattanak, Feb 2007 issue, p. 3). Although some green- Li Jianan, Louise Cort, Marie- glazed ‘Kulen’ ceramics may be 9th C, five France Dupoizat, Melody Rod- charcoal samples gave an AMS calibrated ari, Mohd. Sherman bin Sauffi, date for this kiln as AD 1016-1031. Ngueyn Xuan Hien, Pamela Gutman, Patrick McGlyn, Pe- The kiln, 8.2 x 3.6 m, was built on the ter Burns, Philippe Colomban, steep slope of a dyke. Its upper part was a Rasmi Shoocongdej, Rita Tan, collapsed kiln that was re-built into a new Sayan Praicharnjit, Shih Ching- one. fei, Sten Sjostrand, Tim Hartill, Some 480 kg of ceramic debris was col- Timothy Rebbeck, Tran Ky lected that is now being classified into 9 Phuong, , Zheng Jin Ie families of ware based on morphology and modern Cambodian terms. A full classifica- Editorial staff : tion will help answer questions about wheth- Ceramics from kiln Burin Singtoaj er similar wares were made at other Khmer TMK 002 are being Walter Kassela classified into nine kiln sites or if Thnal Mrech ware was traded families of ware. widely within Khmer lands. The site mapping, The site was first identified by E. Aymonier excavation and (late 19th C.) who noted that one name for analysis are a coop- the area was Sampov Thleay (wrecked ship) erative project be- Southeast Asian Ceramics and that the local people said Chinese survi- tween APSARA Au- Museum vors from a shipwreck built the kilns. thority of Cambodia Bangkok University Archaeologists now call the site Thnal & National Univer- Rangsit Campus sity of Singapore Phahonyothin Road Mrech (‘pepper road’). Work on the eagerly awaited final report progresses steadily. (with special thanks Pathum Thani 12120 to John Miksic). Tel.: (66-2) 902-0299 Since there is not yet a convincing re- Ext. 2892 construction of an old Khmer kiln based on Fax: (66-2) 516-6115 archaeological traces or an explanation on how one worked, it will be interesting to see [email protected] what secrets TMK 002 may reveal. —Reporting by Heng Piphal & Chhay Rachna Inside this issue: Letter from the editor Khmer kiln excavated 1 IMPORTANT!! Letter from the editor 1 Semester break: Museum Letters to the editor 2 CLOSED Ship identification, 8-20 August 2007 Hong Kong exhibition, Fake sea grit 3 THE OLD KILNS on Phnom Kulen were Opium ceramics 4 seen in 1883 and then first mentioned in E. Aymonier’s Le Cambodge (1901), so the January excavations are a major step for- ward. Besides questions about how the kilns Past newsletters at worked, there are also questions about when http\\:museum.bu.ac.th exactly brown-glaze appeared on Khmer ce- ramics. So far no brown glaze has been re- ported at Thnal Mrech. —RMB page 2 Southeast Asain Ceramics Museum Newsletter as much to the production of pots More on Vietnam gilt ware in countries to the south of China Chocolate base as in China itself and therefore this I would like to add two more ob- symposium might be of interest to servations to our gilt ceramics arti- I have two comments to add to the readers. The symposium is being cle [May-June 2007 issue]: discussion in your letters columns organised by the Chinese Society 1. Gilt shards have not yet on the matter of brown bases on for Ancient Ceramics, The Palace been found at any kiln site. Lo- some Vietnamese wares. Firstly, it Museum Beijing. cal archaeologists think the gilt is interesting that some of the 15th (Email: [email protected]). ware was made somewhere nearby C. and later ceramics made in Yun- Thang Long and not in the Chu nan also have this feature. Yunnan — Cyril Beech, U. K Dau area. wares also have other features 2. No gilt ware has yet been similar to those on Vietnamese ce- found in the Thang Long citadel ramics, no doubt due to influence Chocolate bases, more excavations, but other high qual- developed through the relative ity pieces, some with an imperial closeness of the two kiln areas. More on those mysterious brown- mark on the base, have been found I have visited most of the known bottoms: Another suggestion there. ancient kilns in Yunnan and have about the origin of brown wash — (Ms) Bui Kim Dinh, Ha Noi found this chocolate dressing on base was offered by the Japanese some bases most commonly on archaeologist MORIMOTO Asa- Bangladeshi jars pots made at Jianshui kilns, prob- ko at the March 2007 Singapore ably the most southern of the kilns Symposium on the Chinese Export Large gray jars, about 3 feet high, making these wares in Yunnan. Ceramic Trade in Southeast Asia. are found now & then throughout Ms. Morimoto, who has done field Lower Burma and even in Up- Fig. 1 work in Vietnam, Japan and China, per Burma, e.g. Prome or Pagan. read a paper laying out the exten- Drs. Aung Bo and Myo Thant Tyn sive influence of Chinese Yaozhou (Myanmar Ceramic Society) once celadons on Vietnamese wares of suggested that the jars were Bang- the Tran dynasty (1225-1400 CE). ladeshi and early 20th C. Recently Many Song period Yaozhou cela- U Nyein Lwin (Dept Archaeology, dons (10-13th C.) have been re- Pagan) showed me one with an in- covered in Vietnam. She notes it is scription in a godown near the new clear that northern Vietnamese pot- palace excavations. [photo below] ters esteemed high quality Yaozhou The inscription in English & Ben- See Fig 1 for an example from wares. They adapted Yaozhou’s gali encircles the shoulder. In Eng- Jianshui. It is interesting to specu- color, careful carving and molding lish: ’Galinda Cundra Paul, Bard- late whether Yunnan or Vietnam- into their own production, a kind han Para, Dacca.’ ese potters were the first to use this of “Vietnamization”. Likewise, it The longer Bengali portion was decorative feature. Secondly, It has is possible that the distinctive burnt read by Dr. Pratapaditya Pal (Gen- occurred to me that this brown col- brown color of Yaozhou’s unglazed eral Editor, Marg Publications): ouring was added for cosmetic rea- bases might have lead Vietnamese ‘Sri Govinda Chandra Pal and his sons alone, perhaps in imitation of potters to emulate it by painting son Sri Sudhanya Chandra Pal of the brown colouring which devel- iron-brown washes on bottoms of Bardhanpara.’ Bardhanpara is a oped naturally in the kiln on some their stonewares, Morimoto-san small town in Barisal, about 73 earlier Chinese ceramics such as postulates. Morimoto’s paper will miles south of Dacca. I have seen the Song qingbai wares (Fig 2). be published in the symposium these jars in Thailand only once – proceedings. I have a copy of her in the lobby of the Sukhothai hotel, Fig. 2 draft that was made available at the Bangkok!! March symposium. —Donald Stadtner, USA —David Rehfuss, USA Sunken blue? On the blue and white shard il- lustrated in Letters to the editor of May I also take this opportunity your recent May-June 2007 issue, to bring to the attention of readers the one sent by Bobby Orillaneda, that there is to be a symposium on it is most likely from the late Wanli Yunnan ceramics, concentrating period. As the body is rather thick, on the cobalt decorated wares, to it may not be from Jingdezhen. be held in Kunming from 25th to 30th November. I have always felt —Rita Tan, Manila that the ceramics of Yunnan owe Volume IV Number 4 July-August 2007 Pierre-Yves Manguin: Ship more likely S. E. Asia than Chinese IN REGARDS TO the ship depict- of Madurese golekan still to be ob- ed on a Vietnamese stem plate from served in Javanese harbors in the the Hoi An shipwreck [Newslet- 1980s. (I. e., it is not a South China ter, May-June 2007], Pierre-Yves Sea tradition ship, but a purely S. Manguin, who has written on the E. Asian one.) subject of shipwreck construction, “Chinese junks of Fuzhou and remarks: further north would also have a “She no doubt is a large ship flat bow panel, but with a different (with 3 masts). The only feature shape; they would not have a pro- worth noting is the bow: the yel- truding keel piece, and would have low keel piece is clearly seen pro- a rounded bottom, not V-shaped truding, and rather than a stem post like this one. Of course, the small there is a triangular, flat panel. [The size of the drawing makes this evi- two timbers that make the upright dence flimsy, I admit. Nothing can Above: Detail from a gilt decorated sides of the flat panel begin close be seen of what would be tell-tale Vietnam stem plate, Hoi An shipwreck together just above the keel, then rudder(s) at the stern, unfortunate- (January-February 2007, p. 1) open wider in a V-shape.] This is ly.