An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c16.s25: 11.25 Celadon Ware
An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c16.s25
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11.25 Celadon Ware
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This earthenware characteristic of the Sung (960-1279) and Yüan (1280-1368) dynasties and Chekiang province of China found its way through trade routes to Quilon (Malabar Coast), Gujarat, Cambay and Malwa in India as also to Ceylon, Iran and Burma. In India it came to be known as the Ghorī ware, probably from the town of Ghūr in Afghanistan. It is generally believed that the name ‘celadon’ originates from the character of a shepherd boy in a 17th-century French play; but it has also been thought that it is named after Saladin of Egypt (1138-93) who sent some pieces of the ware to Nur-ud-din, Sultan of Damascus.
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The finds in India are confined mainly to w. and s. India, though they are not entirely absent elsewhere. The sites that have yielded the ware are: PURANA QILA in the n.; AMBARI in the e.; PAUNAR, NASIK, MAHESHWAR-NAVDATOLI and NEVASA in c. India and the upper Deccan; DWARKA in the w.; AMARAVATI in s.-e. Deccan; and MADILALAM, KANCHIPURAM, ARIKAMEDU, KAYAL, URAIYUR and NOCHCHIKUPPAM in the s. and s.-w.
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The types represented are generally the bowl and dish with foot-rings, though a straight-necked bottle having banded rim and shallow cup with ring-base occur at PAUNAR and NAVDATOLI respectively. The bowl with ridged body, thin vertical sides or bulging body, flaring mouth, rounded rim and concave neck has been reported from ARIKAMEDU, NASIK, NAVDATOLI, NEVASA and DWARKA. The shallow dish with hollowed or stepped rim, flaring sides and outcurved edge is noticeable from ARIKAMEDU, NASIK, NAVDATOLI, NEVASA and DWARKA. A specimen from NASIK has two perforations on one surface and another sherd has a Chinese letter.
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Made of paste and glaze, highly fired, porcellancous with a felspathic glaze of blue or green tone, the ware has a compact dusty-white core with a thick coating. It has a gem-like lustre with thin-to-thick fabric. The colour effects are obtained by the use of iron in ferrous conditions, the colour of the glaze varying from light green through bluish-green to olive or dove-grey or red. Though a larger number of specimens is devoid of any decoration, paintings are sometimes noticeable on one or both surfaces. On the white, blue or olive-green specimens are designs painted in green, blue or red, the most common designs being plants, flowers, fruits, horizontal lines, scrolls, dots or scales.
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It can be assumed that the ware remained in use with modifications from the 7th-8th centuries. At ARIKAMEDU it was found with Coḷa coins.
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Crompertz, G.M., 1957, *Chinese Celadon Wares*, London. Hetherington, A.L., 1924, *Early Chinese Ware of China*, London, 1924, pp. 107, 134-5. For sites see respective entries in vol. II.—A. BANERJI