TURQUOISE JARS AND OTHER WEST ASIAN CERAMICS IN CHINA

TURQUOISE JARS AND OTHER WEST ASIAN CERAMICS IN CHINA Chuimei HO Historians interested in the issue of early communication between East and West Asia are familiar with the idea that the two regions were engaged in active mutual trade as early as the first millennium AD. However, Far Eastern ceramics did not become regular export merchandise to the Middle East until the early 9th century. Because China at that time was the only country in the world making high-fired glazed ceramics, one is not surprised that those durable and attractive products were exported or that they influenced potting traditions in other countries. Many archaeological sites in the Middle East provide evidence of trade in Chinese ceramics and their influence. Contemporary West Asian sources also mention Chinese ceramics, saying that they were much admired (e.g. Mu et al 1983:15). Most ceramic specialists agree that West Asian potters were inspired by early Chinese export wares and that they even copied them. All of this is by now a well-explored and uncontroversial theme. However, the existence of a reverse traffic in the 9th10th centuries, of ceramics exported from the Middle East to China and other parts of East and Southeast Asia, has just begun to be recognized. It is only within the last few years that West Asian ceramics have started to be identified at Far Eastern sites. Historical records make it clear that Middle Eastern merchants frequented Chinese ports from the 8th century onward and that they brought many kinds of merchandise with them. But no one seems to have suspected that their trade goods included West Asian ceramics. This paper addresses two issues. First, why did this coalsto-Newcastle phenomenon occur: why did China and its neighbors import West Asian ceramics during the 9th-10th centuries? It is argued here that at least some of the West Asia jars found in China at pre-12th century sites served originally as shipping containers for foreign foodstuffs consumed by West Asians expatriates. A few of those foodstuffs may also have gone to the 1 native Chinese elite, who sometimes treasured the jars enough to include them in burials, and to Chinese Buddhists, who used certain imported foods in quasi-ritual contexts. It looks as though very few West Asian wares came to China as utensils in their own right. Those that did came in small quantities and may not have survived to be found by archaeologists. Second, why should the 9th-10th centuries have marked the high point of those imports? The 12th-14th centuries saw many more Middle Easterners visiting and residing in China, yet imported West Asian ceramics then seem to have been much scarcer than two centuries earlier. One would like to know why. Were West Asian wares less attractive to China-based consumers in 1200 AD than in 800 AD? Or were the West Asian traders just bringing fewer of them? In the conclusion it is argued that the second explanation is more convincing. By 1200 AD or so, West Asians in China had undergone a process of cultural naturalization that may have caused them to be less interested in the manufactured products of their homeland. Even though few West Asian wares entered China, they were culturally significant. West Asian imports such as metal and glass wares, jewellery, exotic foodstuffs, incense and medicines left a more obvious imprint on Chinese culture. But ceramics, which were not intentional cultural imports, had an effect as well. Chinese potters adapted their own technologies to appropriate appealing foreign ideas. In the course of that appropriation, new genres of ceramic work were born. The blueand-white porcelain and the peacock-color earthenware of China are good examples. TYPES OF WEST ASIAN WARES FOUND IN THE EAST China and the Middle East were the only regions to export significant numbers of glazed ceramics until well after the 9th century1. The wares of the two regions were worlds apart in technology and outlook. The Chinese wares came from a distinctive preparation process involving special high-alumina 1Japan made ash glazed earthenware at this time but exclusively for the domestic market. Northern Thailand and Cambodia began producing glazed stoneware in the 10th century but, again, not for export. 2 clays, high firing temperatures of 1200-13000C, and large kilns2. The products of these kilns had a vitrified porcelainous body covered with a hard glaze; they were light, durable, easy to clean, and available in colors which, while limited in range, were attractive and permanent. Their Middle Eastern counterparts were basically sturdy earthenwares, fired at a temperature not higher than 10800C (Zhou 1985:154). The thick and rather opaque West Asian glazes cured at relatively low temperatures, strengthening the vessels and making them non-porous; although softer and less durable than Chinese glazes, they had important aesthetic qualities of their own. Chief among those aesthetic qualities were their brilliant glaze colors, which made possible decorative effects that no contemporary Chinese ceramics could match. At least six kinds of West Asian wares, dated archaeologically to the 9th-10th centuries, have been found in Southeast and East Asia: Turquoise ware (Fig.1), Tin-White ware, Yellow-Enameled White ware (or Lustre Ware)(Fig.2R), Cobalt Blue-on-White ware (Fig.2L), Splashed Green-on-White ware (Fig.11) and Impressed Green ware (Ho 1994b). A number of vessel shapes, mostly jars and bowls, are known from each group. Most finds of these West Asian wares have been made at early seaports along the chief maritime highway that in those days connected East and West. Those seaports include Mantai in Sri Lanka (Prickett-Fernando 1990:71 & 82, Mikami 1985); Ko Kho Khao, Laem Pho and a few other interior sites in Thailand (Ho 1994b); the Bujang Valley in West Malaysia (Rahman & Yatim 1990: Plate 35a); Palembang in Sumatra (Ho 1994a); Batangas and Butuan in the Philippines (Mikami 1990, Peralta 1982, Evangelista & Peralta 1978, ASEAN 1987); Mount Ci Lao Cham in central Vietnam3 (Fig.3); and Hakata (FKI 1990:15, 1991:138) and Dazaifu (Yamamoto 1992, Dazaifu 1993) in Japan. In China, Turquoise ware is the only kind so far reported. 2The characteristic climbing kilns of eastern and southern China averaged 40m in length. 3Professor Aoyagi Yoji of the Sophia University kindly supplied this information from his own 1993 survey (Ho 1994b). It must be the same site, Chanpu-lau, which was frequently referred to as a major stop along the East-West maritime highway after the 11th century (Hirth & Rockhill 1910:10). 3 But the other types of West Asian wares must have reached that country too, since China was the eastern terminal of the abovementioned maritime highway. The Turquoise ware vessels found in China are usually large jars with a bright bluish-greenish ("turquoise") glaze. The color comes from the use of copper and tin as colorants but the brightness comes from a high alkali content The jars that reached China could have been manufactured at kilns in Basra in Iraq and Siraf in Iran. Petrographic analyses suggest that both places were probably producers of Turquoise ware (Mason & Keall 1991:57; Mason 1991:198-199). But the ware must have been produced at other kiln centers too, since lowfired ceramics with blue-green glazes had been commonly in use in the Syrian-Mesopotamian area from at least the turn of the Christian era. Production of such ceramics continued well into the middle of the second millennium (Lane 1948:8-9). DISTRIBUTION OF WEST ASIAN WARES IN CHINA Examples of Turquoise ware jars have turned up in Yangzhou, Fuzhou, Guilin and Yongxian. Yangzhou in eastern China has yielded by far the largest quantity: almost three hundred sherds plus at least one complete vessel. At Fuzhou in southeastern China, three complete jars were recovered from a burial dated to 930 AD. About 30 turquoise sherds are known from Guilin and about 10 more from Yongxian, both in Guangxi province in southern China. Although few of these finds can be securely dated, they generally come from 9th-10th century contexts. Why should West Asian wares occur in those places? Yangzhou, which had a substantial enclave of foreign residents during those years, might be expected to yield foreign artifacts. But why should areas like Yongxian and Guilin, neither of them easily accessible to foreigners, also contain Turquoise ware sherds? Yangzhou: The Tang City Precinct Yangzhou was one of the few Chinese cities with a substantial number of Arab/Persian (hu) residents. These lived in a distinct quarter of the city (Zhu 1982:2-3) as early as the 4 8th century4. Thus Yangzhou's three hundred sherds and complete jar of Turquoise ware do not come as a surprise5. The find spots of these sherds may indicate where the foreigners' quarter was. The bulk of them come from the western and central part of the city (Zhou 1985:153)(Fig.4), business or residential districts which may well have been frequented by West Asians. This suggests that the Turquoise wares could have been imported for use by the Middle Eastern expatriate community in China, which preferred them for cultural or religious reasons. A number of Tang period burials have been found in the southern part of Yangzhou (Gu 1988:5). The same area has yielded, as a chance find, a small Turquoise jar with two handles and a tall neck, measuring 36-38cm in height and with a diameter of 11-12cm at the rim and 10cm at the base (Fig.5). The intact condition of the jar suggests that it could have come from one of the burials known to exist in that part of the city. If that is the case, it could have been placed in the grave of either a native Chinese or a West Asian. Either possibility would be significant for our understanding of inter-ethnic relations in ancient Yangzhou. Fuzhou: A Burial of the Ruling Class In the city of Fuzhou, a burial was found containing three large Turquoise ware jars used as oil lamps (Fig.6). The jars are not identical in detail but all have a slender and tall body. The rim diameters range between 12 and 15 cm, the heights from 74.5 to 78 cm, and the base diameters from 16 to 17 cm. There are three or four lugs at the shoulder and relief decorations on the upper two quarters of the body. Most of the Turquoise ware sherds found in China belong to large jars of 4When Shengong's army arrived at Yangzhou in 760-761 AD, at least several thousand Arabs and Persian traders were killed in the ensuing riots (Jiu Tang Shu: Deng Jingshan). Short stories written in the 10th century indicate that Arabs in Yangzhou were traders of jewelry, herbs, incense, medicine, and textiles, and that they even provided banking and warehouse services (Taiping Guangji: Section 17, 220, 402, 403, 421). 5It is surprising that the other two Chinese cities that had Middle Eastern colonies at this time, Guangzhou and Changan (Xian), have not yielded similar West Asian finds. The apparent absence of the wares from Guangzhou may be due to the scale of urban development during the past century. 5 this kind. Similar jars are common utensils in West Asia. Many examples have been recovered from archaeological sites such as Siraf (Whitehouse 1972:71) and Aqaba (Whitcomb 1991: Fig.8). But these West Asian examples tend to have shorter bodies (ranging from 34 to 45 cm in height) than the Turquoise ware jars recovered in Fuzhou. The owner of the Fuzhou grave, Liu Hua, was a daughter of the king of the independent state of Southern Han, which covered most of modern Guangdong province. Liu became the wife of another independent ruler, the king of Min in Fujian province (FPI 1975). She died in 930 AD (Chen 1985:45) and was buried, with the three Turquoise ware jars, in the same year. So far, Liu Hua's grave offers the only reliable date for Turquoise ware in the Far East. The three jars were originally filled with oil and placed on top of stone pedestals in the front chamber. The layout and contents of the grave appear to be in harmony with many other contemporary burials (Fig.7). There is no indication Liu Hua was a Muslim, and the inclusion of oil-filled 'everlasting' lamps is a common feature in Chinese Buddhist burials of that period. The West Asian jars are the only foreign and unusual objects in the grave. They seem not to have been excluded from local Buddhist rites even though their Muslim origin must have been known in Guangdong, which had a large West Asian population. The importance of the Turquoise jars from Fuzhou lies in the fact that they represent the only definite case of West Asian ceramics being used by a native Chinese to serve a traditional Chinese function. Their presence also argues that southern coastal Fujian already had international connections as early as the first half of the 10th century. Written records suggest the development of the Fujian economy and its foreign trade did not begin until a century later. Guangxi: Yongxian and Guilin Areas Construction work at Guilin and Yongxian have unearthed some tens of sherds of Turquoise ware (Ho 1993)6. Yongxian and 6Mr. Li Hua of the Guilin Cultural Relics Shop and Mr. Feng Shaochu of the 6 Guilin are inland cities; they were not entrepots and are unlikely to have been centers for foreign traders7. It is possible that foreign jars were brought to places like Guilin and Yongxian for religious purposes. As indicated further on in this paper, certain imported foodstuffs suitable for Buddhist rituals could have been transported in large jars like these. THE IMPACT OF WEST ASIAN WARES ON CHINESE CERAMICS The second half of the first millennium AD saw intensified commercial contact between China and West Asia. Evidence for this includes records and finds of trade goods: glass (An 1992), metalware (Hodges 1970), food and medicine (Cai 1991) and precious stones, introduced to China either through the Silk Route in the north or the Ceramic Sea Route in the south. Many types of these newly imported objects were copied by Chinese craftsmen, as many scholars have pointed out (e.g. Watson 1984:250; Rawson 1992; Medley 1972). The imports were sometimes copied in ceramics. One much-cited example is a type of 6th-7th century ceramic ewer of northern China, decorated with a phoenix head and medallions, which clearly was copied from West Asian metal prototypes (Watson 1984:Fig.76). During the 8th-10th centuries, several other kinds of Chinese ceramics and metalwares borrowed shapes and decorative motifs from Iranian/ Sogdian gold and silver wares. In general, West Asian metal objects and perhaps glass objects as well had a substantial influence on the crafts of China during the late first millennium (e.g. Medley 1970; Lai 1992; Gray 1963:15). But what about West Asian ceramics? Were Chinese craftsmen ever interested in them? West Asian Turquoise Ware and Possible Chinese Copies Turquoise ware jars are very distinctive and did reach China in significant quantities. These facts suggest that Yongxian Museum kindly shared this information with me in 1992. 7Guilin lies on one of the routes used by travelers between Guangzhou and the Tang Dynasty capital, Changan, and this might explain the presence of foreign jars there. But Yongxian is definitely not on any important route frequented by either traders or tribute missions. 7 Chinese imitations might exist. In reality, however, no overall imitations have yet been found. However, it seems possible that elements of imported Turquoise wares were adopted in at least two Chinese ceramic traditions: those of Changsha and of Guangdong. i) Glaze: Changsha Blue-green Ware The potters of Changsha (or Tongguan) in Hunan were highly export-conscious during the 9th century. They appear to have produced special ceramics in response to foreign orders. Some Changsha underglaze painted utensils carried Arabic inscriptions and were exported to Yangzhou (Yangzhou Museum 1982; Zhu 1983) and Thailand, presumably en route to places further west (Ho 1991:291)(Figs.8). Changsha applique ewers were often decorated with designs of West Asian dancers, palm trees and grapes on vines. These too have been found at overseas sites (Ho n.d.). The possible Middle Eastern influence is represented by one of the several glaze colors used by the Changsha potters: an opaque bluish-green that covers the entire body, usually found on small to medium bottles, jarlets or covered boxes. The color, unusual by Chinese standards, bears a marked resemblance to that of Turquoise ware. But that is where the similarity ends. The blue-green Changsha glazes were lime-based and fired at a higher temperature than the alkali-based glazes on Turquoise ware. Further, no Changsha vessel was shaped like or was as large as the big Turquoise ware jars. It is significant that these blue-green Changsha wares have never been reported anywhere in China, except at the kiln itself. Yet sherds of blue-green Changsha wares do turn up at overseas sites: for instance, at early seaports in southern Thailand (Ho 1991:58)(Fig.9). The glaze was evidently used mainly on vessels slated for export, and this suggests that it could have been intended to imitate a foreign type of glaze which was preferred in certain overseas markets. True, the Changsha blue-green and the West Asian turquoise glazes represent quite different technologies. But that does not decrease the likelihood that the latter inspired the former. In the history of cultural diffusion, it is common enough for local technology to be adapted to imitate imported objects which were produced quite differently. When Californian farmers took up rice-growing, for instance, they did not use buffaloes, night 8 soil or waterwheels. ii) Shape: Guangdong Large Jars Certain jars made in the coastal areas of Guangdong province suggest another loose connection with Turquoise wares. The comparison here involves shape and size rather than glaze color or decorative detail. During the 9th-11th centuries, some large green-glazed jars of the Guangdong Coastal Green Ware group (Ho et al 1990) have a slender overall shape and a relatively small, flat base (Fig.10). While unusual by contemporary Chinese standards, the design of these Guangdong jars is quite like that of West Asian Turquoise wares. Like the blue-green Changsha wares, the large Guangdong jars might not have been made for domestic purpose. They are rare at non-kiln sites in southern China but quite common at sites in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. In southern Thailand and Sumatra, they occur at the same sites as Turquoise ware jars. It is plausible that kilns in Guangdong made them expressly as containers for long-distance shipping. Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong, was the eastern terminus of the main east-west sea route. The Guangdong jars could have been packed in ships' holds in the same way as Turquoise ware jars. Although less beautiful in appearance, they were of stoneware rather than earthenware and hence were lighter and sturdier. Other West Asian Wares Imported to Asia and Their Relationship with Chinese Ceramics West Asian ceramics other than Turquoise ware have not been reported from any archaeological site in China. But as noted above, wares such as Tin-White, Cobalt Blue-on-White, and Splashed Green-on-White have been found along the east-west maritime route at seaports in South and Southeast Asia. It is hard to believe that they did not reach China at least occasionally. Features of certain Chinese-made ceramics suggest that Chinese potters saw examples of certain kinds of West Asian wares. i) Splashed Green-on-White and Changsha Wares The decoration of the West Asian Splashed Green-on-White 9 ware (Fig.11) has close parallels in China. The ware bears a general resemblance to the 8th century low-fired lead glazed sancai wares of Gongxian. But it is even closer in appearance to a type of Changsha ware (Fig.12). No consensus yet exists as to whether these splashed patterns originated in East or West Asia: in fact, specialists in the former area tend to credit the patterns to the latter area, and vice versa (e.g., Lane 1948:12; Watson 1970:42). This uncertainty highlights the fact that when two cultures are in constant communication, it may not be always possible to track down the source of an idea. ii) Tin-White and Northern White Wares The West Asian Tin-White ware bowls (Figs.13, 14) are conspicuously similar in shape and size to the Northern White ware bowls of Henan and Hebei provinces8 (Figs.15, 16). As the Northern White bowls are relatively widespread in China9, one can comfortably conclude that here the Chinese bowls were the prototypes and the West Asian bowls the copies. Bowls from both sources turn up at the same seaport sites in Southeast Asia: for instance, Ko Kho Khao in southern Thailand and Palembang in Sumatra. The puzzle is why the West Asian copies should have been shipped eastward. Their glazes were softer and not more beautiful than those of the Chinese variety. Moreover, judging from the commonness of Northern White bowls in East and Southeast Asia, the Tin-White bowls cannot have been shipped there as cheaper substitutes. So it is unlikely that the West Asian bowls were meant to compete with Chinese wares on Southeast Asian markets. Were they brought there for other reasons? iii) Underglaze Cobalt: Yangzhou 8Northern White is a common utilitarian ware, not yet much studied by ceramicists. The kilns that produced it have not been located, although similar wares were made at Gongxian and elsewhere in Henan province. Bowls of Northern White ware have been found in quantity in Yangzhou and at sites in southern Thailand. 9Bowls of similar shape and size but covered with green glaze were also made at the Yue kilns of eastern Zhejiang province (Jin 1959) and at Meixian in Guangdong province (Gu 1987; Ho 1992:166-167). 10 Even though no West Asian sherd with underglaze cobalt decoration has ever been found in China, the use of cobalt decoration on Chinese ceramics is recognized as a foreign idea imported from West Asia (e.g. Li 1990:8-9), first used on the 7th century low-fired sancai wares of Henan province. The use of cobalt as an underglaze or inglaze ceramic pigment in China first appeared in the 9th century and was then discontinued for several hundred years, to reappear again in the late 13th century. The two periods when cobalt was introduced coincide with the two peaks of West Asia-China contacts. Examples of 9th century Chinese blue-and-white are limited to about 20 bowl fragments, thus far known only from Yangzhou (NJM et al 1977:29; Gu 1988:5)(Fig.17). Significantly, blue-and-white decoration at Yangzhou seems to appear exclusively on bowls of the abovementioned Northern White ware -- one of the kinds copied by West Asian potters. Some scholars, however, have noted that the cobalt designs on the Yangzhou bowls bear little resemblance to the traditional inventory of Chinese motifs and so have concluded that foreign influence must be present ((Luo et al 1986:121; Li 1990). Their conclusion is strengthened by finds in southern Thailand of blue-on-white wares imported from the Middle East; the only example of this kind ever found in East or Southeast Asia (Fig.2L)(Ho 1991:66). It is plausible that such wares also reached China, in the same century that Chinese potters began producing their own blue-on-white ceramics, Northern White ware bowls with cobalt blue designs. Like Changsha Blue-Green ware and the large Guangdong jars, perhaps this first Chinese blueand-white ware was also meant for a foreign market. WHY WERE WEST ASIAN WARES NEEDED IN EAST ASIA? It is possible to arrive at some general conclusions about the social and economic functions of West Asian wares in China and neighboring countries. Turquoise ware jars may have come to the Far East primarily as shipping containers rather than utensils. When recovered in East Africa, such jars are believed to have served as containers for oils, pitch and syrup (Wright 1984:44). The same kinds of foodstuffs, as well as dates or cane sugar, were shipped to the Far East, as records of the Tang and later periods indicate. 11 They may have traveled in the same kinds of containers. The historical records do not always give enough details for 20th century scholars to match records up with archaeological finds. However, what we know as Turquoise jars of West Asia origin today might have been known as liuli jars then. The term liuli as it appears in 9th-10th century sources can mean vessels made of glass, rock crystal (Hirth & Rockhill 1910:227-8) or of ceramic covered with bright glaze. Grace Wong in her list of Song tributary items thinks all liuli vessels were of glass (1979). An Jiayao in her study of early glass imported into China also assumes the word liuli always to mean glass (1983:441,447). But the term obviously refers to different materials at different places and times. For instance, when the Japanese monk Ennin visited a newly constructed Chinese monastery in Tangzhou in 840 AD, he noted that the new altar was built on two layers of greenish blue bricks called "liuli" (Ennin, Section 2, 14th day, 4th month). Liu Su wrote in 802 AD that buildings with liuli tiles were unnecessary luxuries (Datang Xinyu [New Sayings of Tang Period] 2:19). Chronicles of the Song Dynasty, the Song Shi (Foreign Nations 5 & 6) and the Song Huiyao Jigao (199), record four instances when at least eight types of tribute gifts from Arabia and Srivijaya -- tude(?), eye-medicine, sugar, dates, rosewater, gardenia flowers, Bodan almonds and Schisandre propinqua -- came to China packed in liuli vessels10. Some of these liuli containers could very well have been small glass bottles like those recovered from the crypt of the Tang period monastery of Famensi (SFAT 1988) or the Liao period burial of a princess (IMIOA 1987: Fig.35). But containers for sugar, dates and almonds are likely to have been larger and stronger than glass. Such vessels must have been made of brightly glazed pottery, quite possibly of Turquoise ware. To this very day the term liuli wa still means brightly glazed tiles. The foreign foodstuffs listed above served not only for tribute purposes; foreign residents in China needed them too. In the late 9th century a Chinese official, Liu Xun, sampled a kind of imported date called shimi at the home of a Middle 10In 993, 995 1156 and 1178 AD, Dashi (Arabia) and Srivijaya (in Indonesia) sent tribute missions to the Song emperor. 12 Eastern expatriate in Guangzhou. He writes: "[the shimi dates have] a color similar to that of granulated sugar; the peel and flesh are tender and mushy; the flavor seems to come from roasting and steaming . . . Emperor Wei11 once asked his officials, 'What is your opinion of the longan and lychee fruit from the South (of China) compared with the grapes and shimi dates of western countries? . . . I think no dates can be better than those from An District'" (Liu, 9th century: Section II). Liu Xun's comment is relevant in several ways. First, it confirms that expatriates imported and ate dates from their own countries. Second, shimi were a kind of West Asian date known in the Guangzhou area. And third, the exotic taste of the dates, perhaps like cheese in China nowadays, was not widely appreciated among the Chinese. On the other hand, Siraf merchants did not seem to be impressed by local Chinese dates (Mu et al. 1983:11) Syrup and sugar, however, had a more ready market in China. Buddhist writings often refer to the need for sugar and syrup12 as healing medicines or as food for strengthening the spirits of Buddhist followers. For instance, when the Chinese monk Jianzhen finally reached Hakata in Japan in 750 AD, after sailing from Yangzhou, he took along three secular members of foreign nationalities: one Hu (West or South Asian) and two Southeast Asians13. In preparation for his ritual needs in Japan, his shopping list included honey, shimi, cane sugar, and 80 bundles of sugarcane (Yuan 790s). Turquoise ware jars may have served originally as shipping containers for imported foodstuffs which had a limited market 11Liu Xun may be referring to Emperor Wei of the Western Jin dynasty (291-306 AD). 12.In Chinese historical sources of the mid-first millennium A.D., Shimi (which could also mean an imported sugar syrup from India) and honey are mentioned as ritual foods related to Buddhism (Ji 1983:12-13). 13Three secular persons were recruited to the Jianzhen expedition: An Rubao (a Hu foreigner), Jun Fali (from Kunlun) and Xian Ting (from Champa). It is not clear whether the last two were native Southeast Asian or naturalized Indians/Arabs. As can be seen in 10th century records, it was common for Arabs to represent Southeast Asian countries while in China (Nie 1987:67). An Rubao was classified as a Hu: an Arab, Persian or Indian. He later became Jianzhen's successor as abbot of the Toshodaiji Temple in Nara (Wang 1979:101). 13 within China. While certain members of the Chinese elite as well as expatriate foreigners and high-ranking Buddhists may have consumed those foodstuffs, they were evidently not of great interest to most Chinese. Hence, the places where the jars are likely to turn up in China were formerly either residences for aristocrats or foreigners, or locations of Buddhist monasteries. The fact that relatively few sites of those kinds have been excavated may explain the apparent rarity of Turquoise ware in China. THE DECLINE AND REVIVAL All of the above-cited possible instances of Middle Eastern influence on Chinese ceramics share something in common: a new element was added to forms already familiar in the Chinese inventory. None of the instances can be taken as faithful copying of foreign models. In fact the copying effort was so partial that not everyone is convinced that the Chinese ever copied foreign wares. However, there are other points worth pondering. In all cases, the Chinese-influenced versions are not common, whether at kilns or at market sites. Apparently demand was small. Besides, none of the Chinese versions -- Changsha Blue-Green, Changsha Splashed Green-on-White, Guangdong Green or Yangzhou Blue-and-White wares -- continued in production beyond about 950 AD. All had been part of the standard export package of the 9th century but all disappeared shortly after that, as did imports of actual West Asian ceramics to Southeast Asia, Japan and China. It seems likely that the two facts are connected. The East and Southeast Asian markets for Chinese imitations of West Asian wares, and for actual Middle Eastern wares as well, must have been closely dependent on the foreign trade of China. That trade, at least as far as the Islamic world is concerned, dropped precipitously towards the end of the 9th century after the massacre of Middle Easterners by Huang Cao's troops in his sacking of Guangzhou (Nakamura 1915(2):41-43; Mu et al. 1983:95-97). The trade did not recover significantly during the next two centuries, the turbulent Five Dynasties and early Song periods. When contact between West and East Asia was resumed and intensified during the 12th-14th centuries, West Asian ceramics 14 do not seem to have come with the trade revival. So far few, if any, West Asian wares of that period have been reported in China or anywhere else in East or Southeast Asia. One can only speculate about the reason why. Were Middle Eastern foodstuffs by then no longer in demand among elite East Asians and West Asian expatriates, of whom China had many in the 12th century? Or were West Asian wares no longer needed for shipping and serving those foodstuffs? Both explanations seem possible. Imported sugar, syrup and dates must have been challenged by local products soon after the relevant technologies became known to the Chinese. For instances, Yangzhou was asked by the court to make refined sugar in the same way as West Asia as early as the 7th century (Xin Tangshu [New Tang History] 221). In the 7th century, monks and workers were sent from West Asia to Zhejiang in order to make syrup from local sugar canes (Xugaozengjuan [High Priest New Volumes] Xunzhuang). Liu Xun's writing quoted above indicates that China had its own dates as well. Although West Asian ceramics may not have taken permanent root in Chinese culture, it seems that Middle Eastern foodstuffs did. Hence, expatriate West Asians of the 12th century would have found that local supplies of those foodstuffs were available and, perhaps by then, even acceptable. As shown by Californian wine and Wisconsin cheese, it may take no more than a century or two to transplant gourmet food-producing technologies to other countries. As for shipping containers, many new kinds of large jars made in south China and Southeast Asia began to circulate in eastern and southern Asia at about the 12th century14. As containers, these were sturdier and sometimes bigger than the West Asian Turquoise ware jars of earlier years. Of interest here is not just the fact that local jars may have taken the place of imported jars. By the 12th-13th centuries, the nature of the East-West trade network had changed as well. It was no longer bipolar, focused mainly on exchange between China and the Middle East. Instead, intra-Asian markets had developed and business within the area called by the Chinese the South Seas had become as important as business at the 14Some of these were later known as "Martaban" jars (Adhyatman & Abu Ridho 1984; Valdes, Long & Barbosa 1992). 15 eastern and western termini of the network15. Interestingly, although West Asian wares seem not to have circulated or survived in China during this period, West Asian ceramic techniques may again have become influential in the 13th century, as reflected by a wave of novel decorative ideas appearing on Chinese ceramics. The best-known of these was the reappearance of underglaze painting with cobalt on white porcelain (Medley 1975), which quickly achieved enormous success in local and export markets alike, probably through the promotion of Middle Eastern residents in Quanzhou (Gray 1963:17). Chinese blue-and-white ware would later become the most widely imitated of any ceramic in history. Another new decorative idea was the use of turquoise colored glaze on an earthenware body (Zhang 1985:339-340). 13th century kilns at Guantai (HPCB 1959; Li 1964), Hebi (HPM 1984:337) and Pacun (Ye 1964:34), all in northern China, produced a kind of peacock colored glaze, sometimes on a plain body and sometimes over underglaze black painting (Li 1964:41; Ye 1964:34). At Guantai and Hebi, the new glaze was mainly applied on ceramic pillows, a local invention rarely appreciated outside East Asia. Lane sees that the 12th century Silhouette wares of West Asia are a continuation of the Samarkand tradition, but using black painting underneath an overall turquoise coloured glaze (1948:35). Even though no example of Silhouette ware has yet been located in China, it is possible that the Guantai pillows reflect a partial copying effort. The peacock colored Guantai glaze has a high alkali content, with potash and soda as fluxes and significant amounts of lime, magnesia and phosphorus. At least one sample contains lead, perhaps added as a flux to lower the solidification point of the glaze (Li & Guo 1985:157). These analyses are surprising, as the indicated glaze formula is very different from that on most Chinese wares (including regular Guantai products) but quite close to glazes used by West Asian potters (Zhang 1992). Not much is known about the revived use of cobalt painting and the first use of peacock glaze in the 13th century. That 15This pattern of emphasizing the intraregional East and Southeast Asian trade over trade between that region and the West was to be repeated by Dutch and other European merchants in the 17th-19th centuries (van Leur 1967:283-285). 16 they actually were influenced by West Asian ceramic techniques cannot yet be stated with any degree of certainly. 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Surface 2**Fragments of Yellow-Enamelled White (R) and Blue-on-White (L) wares, 9th century. Surface collection from Ko Kho Khao, Thailand. 3**Fragments of Turquoise ware jar amidst sherds of the standard 9th-10th century Chinese export assemblage: Yue, Changsha painted underglaze and Northern White (?) wares. Surface finds from Mount Ci Lao Cham, Central Vietnam. 4. City Plan of Yangzhou. 5.**Line Drawing of a Turquoise ware jar, 7th-10th centuries. Surface find from Yangzhou. 6.**Two Turquoise ware jars, 930 AD. Hua's Tomb, Fuzhou. Excavated pieces from Liu 7.Plan of Liu Hua's Tomb, Fuzhou. 8.**Fragment of a bowl with an underglaze "Arabic" inscription, Changsha ware, 9th century. Surface find from Ko Kho Khao, property of Fine Arts Department, Thailand. 9 **Jar fragment with blue-green glaze, Changsha ware, 9th century. Surface Find from Ko Kho Khao, Thailand. 10**Large jar, Guangdong Coastal Green Ware, 9th-10th centuries. Surface find from southern Thailand, property of Nakorn Srithamarat National Museum, Thailand. 11**Jar and bowl fragments of West Asian Splashed Green-on-White ware, 9th century. Surface find from Ko Kho Khao, Thailand. 12.Green-and-white ewer, Changsha ware, 9th-10th centuries. Surface collection from Tongguan Kiln, Changsha, Hunan province. 13**Bowl fragment of Tin-White ware, 9th century. from Ko Kho Khao, Thailand. 27 Surface finds 14Drawing of a Tin-White ware bowl, 9th century. Thailand. Ko Kho Khao, 15**Bowl fragment of Northern White ware, 9th century. finds from Ko Kho Khao, Thailand. Surface 16**Line Drawing of Northern White ware bowl, 9th century. Kho Khao, Thailand. Ko 17Bowl fragment with cobalt design in white glaze, Chinese ceramic, 9th-10th centuries. Surface finds from Yangzhou, China. 28