Qing Dynasty Ceramic Fragment

Date: 19th Century

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Caption Bahasa Indonesia

A porcelain-ware fragment A porcelain-ware fragment in the form of a plate found during the excavation of the Bubakan site. his fragment is estimated from the late Qing Dynasty (19th century AD), allegedly related to the date due to the prominent characteristics of Qing porcelain-ware / ceramics, among others: clay-based with a brown colour that is visible from the cut side of the ceramic body with a white coating; and the most prominent feature is on the inner side of the plate body where there is an ornamental motif in the form of a wavy radial pattern depicted using cobalt under the glaze layer.

More Information:

This porcelain-ware plate is thought to have been produced in Pengcheng City, Ci County, Hebei Province in the late Qing dynasty. In contrast to the early Qing porcelain-ware type characterised by black-and-white designs, the blue-and-white porcelain trend of the late Qing period sought to emulate the blue-and-white Jingdezhen porcelain that was a symbol of imperial China from the late Ming dynasty.

This can be assumed to be an attempt to take back the monopoly of porcelain ware by the Qing Empire, after the absence of Jingdezhen products in the Southeast Asian market due to the implementation of the ceramic export restriction policy during the Ming Dynasty; precisely during the reign of Emperor Taizu (1386-1398), Emperor Chengzu (1402-1424) and Emperor Xuanzong (1426-1435).

Taizu/ Tai-Tsu Emperor; The First Emperor of Ming's Dynasty (1368-1398). Source: National Palace Museum Taiwan Collection.

One of the considerations behind the implementation of this policy was that the Ming Empire was worried that mass production of porcelain and exporting massive quantities would reduce the value of porcelain, which was one of China's mainstay products at that time.

Instead of keeping the value high, the Ming dynasty emperors tightened the regulations that were binding resulting in the absence of Chinese ceramics in Southeast Asia and possibly Europe in the 14th-15th centuries. As a result, porcelain-ware producers in Vietnam, Thailand, and Japan became an alternative for other regions to buy ceramic products, thus resulting in the spread of white-blue Ming ceramics not too much in Indonesia.

After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, which was succeeded by the Qing Dynasty, this did not seem to change. This was because the new dynasty also imposed restrictions on trade and maritime activities due to resistance from the Manchurians under Zheng Chenggong (1624-1662). China only abolished these regulations and widened the scope of its ceramic exports in 1683-1684.

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