History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c15.s9: Chinese Ceramics
History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c15.s9
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Chinese Ceramics
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The Chinese ceramic wares occur in different parts of the country in early medieval levels. They can be divided into two groups viz., i) the Celadon and ii) the Porcelain. The former also is a glazed pottery but can be distinguished on account of its greenish colour. It is roughly coloured with crackled surface. The other variety is usually white coloured with paintings in blue, sometime stamped with the mark of the manufacturer (Fig. 8). However, in terms of time, the Celadon ware has an earlier beginning going back to 7th century A.D. Both the wares occur in India and have a datable value.
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The name Celadon is generally supposed to have been based on the colour of the costume of a character, Celadon, in *L’Astree*, a 17th century French romance. But this is rather incorrect for according to some, the name is derived from ‘Salahdin’ a Sultan of Egypt who sent forty pieces of this ware to Nur-ed-din, Sultan of Damascus in 1171 A.D. (Savage, p. 40). The ware was much in demand because of its supposed medicinal properties as also for its aesthetic quality.
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Fig.8 Chinese porcelain, a bowl from Ahmednagar (Maharashtra)
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It was Marco Polo, the great Venetian traveller, who described the manufacture of the Chinese porcelain which he witnessed the country of Kubla Khan. He gave it the name porcelain because it resembled the shells of the genus porcellana (Savage p.38). The Chinese, however, call it tzu because of the metallic sound it produces when struck. The ceramic is made of a mixture of Kaolin (meaning ‘high ridge’, a place where it was found; it is the same as China clay) and pai-tun-tzu. The latter was used in powdered form for glazing as early as third century B.C. Later it came to be used in the body of the ceramic (Honey, p.13). The Celadon was made locally mostly in the Cheking province of China. It was already in production before the end of the Tan Dynasty (618-906). Much of it was specially made for export and its distribution began before A.D. 883, the date of the abandonment of Samarra on the Tigris, where the ceramic has been found. Al-Biruni (A.D. 973-1048) refers to the export of the wares to India. Marco Polo (1288) who gave them the name porcelain, also describes the route of export from China to India through Sumatra - Martaban (Burma) from where it was transhipped to the Malabar coast, Gujarat, Cambay and Malwa (Savage, p.95)
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The Chinese Celadon was held in high esteem in the medieval world probably because it resembled jade and was therefore thought to possess the qualities of the latter such as smooth, resonance and durability. But the Sultans in West Asia perhaps attached to it the quality of revealing poison in food when placed in it - a characteristic of jade. This would explain the export of mostly dishes and bowls of Celadon ware to West Asia and also to India under the Mughals. This belief in the magical properties of the Celadon have been recorded in 13th century by the philosopher Āṭ-Ṭusi (1201-74) in a book on precious stones written for Halaku, the Mongol conqueror of Baghdad, to instruct him in the appreciation of the gifts and ornaments presented to him. At-Tusi states that poison in food placed in a Celadon vessel would cause it to sweat, and that powdered Celadon porcelain would act as a tooth salve and would check nose bleeding. In other forms of the legend current in India and Persia, it is affirmed that “if poison is present, the dish will crack or change colour or the food will change its smell” (Honey, pp. 95-96)
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The Chinese porcelain is usually represented by bowls and dishes, all with foot rings. The vessels of China clay were fired into porcelain at about 1300°C. With the help of a less decayed and more fusible form of the felpathic material called by the Chinese pai-tun-tzu. This latter is the same as petuntse in the 18th century French phonetic equivalent. It actually means “little white rocks”, because the material was sent to the potter in the form of small bricks after being pulverised and refined (Honey, p.13). The ware was placed in saggars or otherwise supported by firing setters and was fired in a continuous tunnel kiln which was a Chinese invention.