China, Yuan dynasty (1279-1368)
Jingdezhen or Fujian ware lotus pond 14th century
porcelain with qingbai glaze 4 x 10.5 cm
Edward and Goldie Sternberg Chinese Art Purchase Fund 1999
106.1999

Export Ceramics

From the early centuries CE an extensive network of sea routes crossed Asia carrying cargoes as varied as spices, gold and ceramics - from China, Thailand and Vietnam to Japan and the Philippines in the East, Indonesia in the south and India, Africa and the West. Chinese wares produced at the Changsha and Xing kilns from the Tang dynasty (800s) were the earliest of the export ceramic wares. China continued to dominate the market for export ceramics. In the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) qingbai glazed porcelain from the Jingdezhen kilns in Jiangxi province and the Dehua kilns in Fujian province filled orders for grave goods from the Philippines through to the islands of Indonesia.

As demand for large plates of ceremonial and heritage value grew during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), celadons from the Longquan kilns, blue-and-white porcelains from Jingdezhen kilns and enamel ware from independent kilns were exported throughout Southeast Asia from the port of Swatow in southern China. Thai and Vietnamese kilns also catered to the extensive Southeast Asian market.

The European export market developed from the late 1500s. Huge amounts of Chinese porcelains were shipped to Europe, including the distinctive Kraak porcelain. For a brief period from the late 1500s, Japan was a major participant in this trade due to the collapse of Chinese trading amid the political and social turmoil of the late Ming dynasty. However China soon re-asserted its dominance. Japanese ceramics only regained prominence in the late 19th century, when Japan participated in the great International Exhibitions (including the Sydney International Exhibition of 1879) that showcased invention and industry from around the globe.

Kraak ware: a class of thinly potted blue-and-white porcelain produced for the European market. The word derives from the Portuguese carrack, merchant ship, which carried ceramics to Europe

Mushikui: literally 'insect eaten' (Japanese); a technical defect where the glaze pulls away from the clay body on the rim of a vessel.
The Japanese liked the effect and actively sought pieces, usually late Ming, with this defect

Qingbai: literally 'bluish white'; a Chinese term referring to the bluish tinged glaze on southern porcelains, mainly of the Song and Yuan dynasties

Swatow: a large family of provincial porcelains, often with vigorously painted decoration, exported through the southern Chinese
port of Shantou (Swatow in Dutch records)