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Tuesday,
September 9th 2008
Present:
Carole Beauclerk, Annette Kunigagon and her daughter, Lucy Coombs,
Robert Simpson, Bonnie Brereton, Carl Samuels, Keiko Samuels, Ivan
Hall, Hans and Sangdao Bänziger, David Steane, L. Noordermeer,
David James, Michael and Rosalie Dean, Fran Decoster, Bill Feetham,
Allan Young, Bodil Blokker, Vithi Panichphant. 21 guests plus a few
more who didn't see the attendance list.
Your Convenor writes:
The evening commenced with drinks by the pool leisurely followed by
more drinks and snacks in the lounge where John welcomed his guests and
outlined his plan for the evening. In response to a request by one of
his guests to "Tell us a bit about yourself", John gave an impromptu
history of his life since arriving in Asia more than 40 years ago, and
the development of his and his wife Pat's interest in ceramics over the
past 30 years.
He told how they
first became interested in ceramics when they lived in Indonesia
in the early 1970's. Pat worked as a volunteer in the Jakarta Museum and they started
collecting Chinese export wares. When they decided to return to Thailand their interest switched to Sukhothai Town and
Sisatchanalai/Sawankaloke wares.
In 1976 they came to
live in Chiang Mai and started visiting possible kiln sites about which
virtually nothing was known. Gradually they began assembling a study
collection of kiln wasters and other pieces. A chance meeting with a
representative of Oxford University Press resulted in John being
commissioned to write a book on Northern Thai Ceramics, which, in 1982,
became the first in depth study of the subject. Ten years later the
book, much enlarged as a result of the spectacular Tak Hilltop Burial
finds, was reprinted privately. John lectured at Chiang Mai
University
and, on retirement, was awarded the MBE for his services as Honorary
British Consul at Chiang Mai. He acknowledged that Pat has been the
inspiration in their lifelong interest in researching Northern Thai
Ceramics.
From the lounge, we
took our drinks and ascended to the third floor of John's house where
his ceramics collection is housed on display in glass showcases. John
gave us a guided tour and explained to those of us who didn't know just
what it was that we were looking at. His commentary included tales of
visits burial sites, pieces of ceramics found by a man digging
foundations for his house, and the discovery of a 3-metre deep clay pit
containing a treasure trove of kiln rejects, many of which didn't look
to be that imperfect.
The heart of John and
Pat's collection is the ceramics that were made in the old northern
Thai kingdom
of Lanna some
five to six hundred years ago, around 1350 to 1550 AD, and there are
also interesting pieces from other Asian kilns. Also on display are
Thai lacquer wares, silver and other curios.
As a brief
introduction to Thai ceramics John told us that pots have been made in
Siam/Thailand since Neolithic times. Sherds dated at 6000 BC have been
found in the Spirit
Cave
near Mae Hong Son, and there are other sites in the north-east and
west, of which the most famous is Ban Chiang, where beautiful red
decorated earthenware urns and other artifacts were made from around
4000 BC to 200 AD.
The Mon Kingdom of
Davaravati, to the west of Bangkok,
flourished from the seventh to the eleventh century, while the sister
Mon Kingdom of Hariphunchai in the north survived somewhat longer.
There are still many Mon people in Thailand
and Burma
although they have been almost entirely assimilated. They made
earthenware and terracotta Buddhist and architectural ornaments and
some funerary urns. In the south fine unglazed kendi were produced and
exported.
Glazed ceramics were
probably first made in this region in the Khmer Empire in the ninth
century. By the end of the thirteenth century production had ceased.
Khmer wares are in a very different tradition from Thai glazed ceramics
although, as many of the kilns are situated in what is now the
north-east of Thailand, some call them Lopburi wares and treat them as
our own.
It is, however, the
high-fired, glazed stoneware that was produced, starting perhaps as
early as the middle of the thirteenth century, but mainly between 1350
and 1550, in the Kingdoms of Lanna and Sukhothai, that are the pride of
Thailand.
It is these wares, in particular those from the kilns of Kalong that
are at the heart of the Shaw Collection. Many think that Kalong wares
are the finest ever to have been made in South-east
Asia.
Tens of thousands of Sukhothai Town
and Sisachanalai or Sawankalok wares were exported to Indonesia and the Philippines - Northern Thai
wares, however, were not exported. It is wares from graves in these
countries and from sunken junks in the Gulf of Thailand
that most collections have been created.
In 1984 graves were
discovered high in the hills along the Thai Burmese border - the Tak
Hilltop Burial Sites. Many perfect pieces, never seen before were
looted, wares from Lanna, Sukhothai, Burma, Vietnam and China, and most
of these have ended up in private collections all over the world.
The Burmese destroyed
the Thai world in the middle of the sixteenth century and ceramic
production must have come to an end at that time or shortly after. In
the following centuries unglazed stoneware was produced at Singhburi
and near Ayuthaya. Chinese and Japanese blue and white wares were
imported for everyday use - some were sent as royal gifts to the King
of France.
In the eighteenth and
early nineteenth centuries, Thai artists were sent to China
to design the patterns of Benjarong or five coloured enamel wares for
the royal court. European tableware also became popular. At the
beginning of the twentieth century, the manufacture of celadon,
probably with know-how from Burma, recommenced in the
north and, today, there is a flourishing ceramics industry in Chiang
Mai and Lampang.
Interspersed throughout his commentary were many anecdotes of the
adventures he and Pat had had over the years they have spent acquiring
pieces and building up their collection.
The evening was a great success and on behalf of all those who attended
and myself I would like to extend to John and Pat our most sincere
gratitude for their generous hospitality and all the work they put in
to making it a delightfully convivial, and educational evening which
will long be remembered by their guests. Many thanks.
For more information on the Shaw Collection go to their user friendly
web
site at: www.shawcollection.com
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