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Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c5.s2.t11: Porcelain

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c5.s2.t11

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English

Porcelain

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Porcelain was one of the main articles traded between ancient India and China. Since the Tang and Song dynasties, porcelain has been one of China’s major exports. Porcelain exported from China in the late Tang and Five dynasties period was unearthed in the ruins at Arikamedu and Korimedu in Puducherry in southern India. Chinese porcelain has also been excavated from Banbhore near Karachi and Brahminabad in Sindh, Pakistan and from other parts of South Asia including Sri Lanka. Porcelain exported to India reached port cities of the Indian subcontinent by sea via the Malay Peninsula from Chinese ports such as Guangzhou and Quanzhou. *Juan* 1 in Zhao Rushi’s *Record of Foreign Countries* from the Song period recorded that merchants of Namburi traded in porcelain. Wang Dayuan’s *A Brief History of Island Countries* from the Yuan period recorded that there were many varieties of porcelain including greenish white porcelain, green porcelain, coarse bowl and greenish white flower porcelain among goods being traded in the Indian subcontinent. Volume 2 of the *Travels of Ibn Battuta* mentioned that the best porcelain was made in Guangzhou and Quanzhou and that it was exported to many places including India and even reached as far as Maghreb, Africa. Jingdezhen in the Ming period was the main source of porcelain exported from China. During Zheng He’s maritime expeditions, the main commodity carried by his fleet was porcelain. Fei Xin’s *Overall Survey of the Star Raft* recorded in detail the trade in porcelain between Zheng He’s fleet and the countries it visited. Apart from gold, silver, satin, dyed silk, etc. Bengal was supposed to have the greenish white flower porcelain also. This means that in this period Chinese porcelain was popular in India and ordinary merchants were engaged in buying and selling it.

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*Chinese porcelain*

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*Juan* 326 of the *History of the Ming Dynasty* recorded that tribute offered by Bengal included the greenish white flower porcelain. The Mongolian court too used to use wonderful Chinese porcelain in the 17th century CE. With the coming of the Age of the Great Voyages in the 16th and 17th centuries CE, the Dutch East India Company and the British East India Company began to play the main role in the circulation of Chinese porcelain. Large quantities of porcelain were transported to the southeast coastal areas of India, and then trans-shipped to Europe. More than 10,000 pieces of porcelain could be loaded onto a ship.

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As a byproduct of the trade between the Chinese coast and Bombay (Mumbai) starting from the later 18th century CE, a significant quantity of Chinese porcelain was imported by Bombay traders. As a result, several museums in India as well as a number of Parsi families who were connected with the China trade, have significant collections of Chinese porcelain today.

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*(Chen Ming)*

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