History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c15.s9.5

v1.c15.s9.5

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)