Antique Sawankhalok Stoneware Lidded Bowl, Thailand #3169

Description

Sawankhalok in north-central Thailand is an area with ceramic kiln production during the Sukhothai Kingdom (1238-1583). When Ming emperors forbade export of Chinese ceramics during 1368-1487, a period known as the Ming Gap, Thailand became a major ceramics producer and exporter to Southeast Asia, Japan, and the Middle East. During the 14th and 15th centuries, Sawankhalok kilns produced a large range of shapes and glazes in their own unique creations. Stoneware lidded boxes were functional and signs of wealth for Thais and overseas owners and used to store spices, cosmetics, betel nut  paraphernalia, medicine, and more, and they are sometimes ancestral items found buried with the deceased for use in the afterlife. Round shapes, lotus bud handles and floral design motifs were adopted from Hindu and Buddhist reliquaries and architectural elements. This bowl has a close fitting cover and rests on a foot. The  lotus bud handle on the lid is surrounded with radiating circular incised decorations and hand painted lines. Coordinated decorations extend to the body composed of vines and vegetal scrolls. The lid’s inside and foot are unglazed and the inside of the body has a clear glaze coat .Its condition is very good with expected firing imperfections, minor scratches and inside rim chips and there is a single long scrape on one side.

Sources:

Roxanna Maude Brown, The Ming Gap and Shipwreck Ceramics in Southeast Asia: Towards a Chronology of Thai Trade Ware, Bangkok, Siam Society, 2009.

Louise Allison Cort with George Ashley Williams IV and David P. Rehfuss, “Ceramics in Mainland and Southeast Asia, National Museum of Asian Art,” Collections in the Freer Gallery of Art,

Tom Harrison, “Ming Gap and Kota Batu, Brunei,” The Sarawak Museum Journal, New Series 8(11)/Old Series (26), pp. 273-77, 1958.

University of Michigan Museum of Art, “Sawankhalok Ware Covered Box with a conch handle, a band of stars, and vegetal school design.

Yew Seng Tai, “Ming Gap and the Revival of Commercial Production of Blue and White Porcelain in China,” Beijing, School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University, Vol. 31, 2011.