Chinese Ceramic Foodwares

Date: late Ming Dynasty (late 17th Century) until early Qing Dynasty (19-20th Century)

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Caption Bahasa Indonesia

Chinese small bowl ceramics with blue-white decoration underglaze. Source: Museum Documentation.

Blue-white Ceramics

Chinese ceramics with blue-white decoration made for export are known as Kraak ware or Kraak ceramics. The term is often used by Western historians to define Chinese ceramic with blue-white decoration which was produced for the international market by the late 16th century to around ca. 1650. Another term “transitional ceramic” is used for specific ceramics produced during the interregnum period in the late Ming Dynasty around 1683, when those ceramics were reproduced again in Jingdezhen, in the reign of Kangxi Emperor (1662-1722) of the early Qing Dynasty. Another term comes from Japanese, ko-metsuke (or “old blue-white”). The term is used for the Japanese market in the reign of Tianqi Emperor (1621-1627) and Chong Zhen Emperor (1628-1644). The shapes are non-Western and suitable for Japanese, especially for tea ceremonies.

Soupspoon Chinese ceramic fragment. Source: Museum Documentation.

Kraakware or Kraak Ceramics comes from the Dutch Kraakporseleinen or Kraekporseleyn which is derived from the word kraak (Portuguese) which means Carrack Ship. The ship was a merchant ship used in Asia to transport cargo to Europe. Kraakware was very popular with Europeans and Westerners in the early 17th century, it was repeatedly shown in Dutch paintings in the early 17th century which were later duplicated in Delft to be produced as Delft ceramics.

One characteristic of Kraak Ceramics is that most are ceramics for tableware, generally with cobalt blue motifs applied under a glaze with a thin glaze that does not crack and is transparent, and the edges of the ceramics tend to chip easily. The thin glazing process causes the iron slag content in the clay mixture to burst during the firing process and peel off. The art-historical term is referred to as moth-eaten edges. The thin layer of glaze makes the edges of the ceramic deformed so that from the perspective of Chinese society it is not commonly used as tableware.

Chinese Ceramic wares as tableware

Ceramic fragments found in the excavation of Yogyakarta Archaeological Centre (now known as BRIN) from 2009-2018, indicate the function of daily use. The ceramic fragments are ceramic fragments of the bowl base, spoon mouth fragment, and spoon stem fragment. Based on its typology and motifs, the ceramic fragments belong to the Qing Dynasty (19th-20th century AD). This can be seen from the motif that was applied before the glazing process with a blue-white colour.

Ceramic wares in China are generally divided into two main types: one for daily use and the other for aesthetic or decorative functions. Ceramics used for daily use are further divided into three categories. First, tableware such as: small vessels, bowls of various sizes, cups, vessels, and goblets. Second, domestic purposes such as: ceramic chairs, wall hangings, candle holders, incense burners, statues and vases. The last one is related to writing purposes such as: brush containers, water containers for brushes, and ink containers.

Chinese ceramics were commonly used as tableware by Dutch aristocrats since the 16th century. However, since the production of Chinese ceramics and imports into the Dutch East Indies became more massive in the 17th century, Chinese ceramics were commonly used by the Dutch East Indies people as tableware.