bowl BM-1973-0726.329

Period:Ming dynasty Production date:1400-1500 (circa)
Materials:stoneware
Technique:glazed

Dimensions:Diameter: 18 centimetres Height: 7.60 centimetres

Description:
Stoneware bowl with green glaze and unglazed centre. This thickly potted bowl has rounded sides and an everted rim and stands on a low foot ring. It is covered inside and out with a dull grey-green glaze, except for the unglazed centre. The base is also unglazed and is rather coarse.
IMG


Comments:Harrison-Hall 2001:The present bowl was found in Malindi, an important entrepot for Sino-Arabian trade on the Kenyan coast in Africa. Chinese celadons were not only used as table wares in this part of Africa but were also incorporated into buildings as decorative architectural elements. For example, tall pillars above the face of tombs along the East African Coast at Malindi and Mambrui are known decorated with Chinese blue-and-white, qingbai and celadon wares.In addition to this export context, another bowl of this type was excavated at Wang Xuda, the Prince of Zhongshan’s family cemetery, outside Taiping men [Gate of Heavenly Peace] in Nanjing, where archaeologists worked from 1965 to 1983. This complex includes eleven tombs furnished with a wide range of burial goods. The green-ware bowl was unearthed in tomb M.10, together with two gold hairpins, two gold drop earrings, a stud earring, two silver hairpins, a bronze mirror, a green-ware bowl and a hanping bottle. Unfortunately precise dating of the tomb is impossible as it had no epitaph tablet. However, by relating the contents to other tombs with named tomb occupants and dates, it is possible to establish that M.10 goods were interred in the fifteenth century.