ACRO Update. (Asian Ceramic Research Organization). Written by. Dr. Chuimei Ho
What the scholars say:
Nanhai Marine Archaeology LLC. USA
as agent for Nanhai Marine Archaeology Sdn. Bhd. Kuala Rompin, Malaysia.
Phone: (609) 41 31 002 Fax: (609) 41 32 996 email: Nanhai Marine
Dr. Roxanna Brown. Independent scholar specializing in shipwreck research.
Dr. Don Hein. Best known for his many years excavations of the Thai kilnsites
Reviewing the Museum Monograph:
" Written by Roxanna Brown and Sten Sjostrand, it is published by the Pacific Asia Museum, Los Angeles
(ISBN: 1-877921-17-3). Brown is a well-known Southeast Asian ceramic specialist with strong interest in ancient trade. Sjostrand is an expirienced marine salvage operator who has an academic researcher's enthusiasm for ceramics, ships and shipping, and natural science. Both have many years or working expirience in Southeast Asia. Together they form an ideal team for writing such a book.
Their strenght as collaborators shows when they discuss the environments in which the ship was excavated, where its ceramic cargo was made. Using observations made on in situ materials during the excavation, they offer an intelligent discussion of the relationship between ship design and cargos, attempting to put the context
of 14th-15th century political and economic, as well as ceramic, history".
Professor Wan Qingzeng, Shanghai Museum
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"The dating of trade ceramics made in both China and Southeast Asia is vital to reconstructing the history of Southeast Asia. Once individual types of ware can be conclusively assigned to specific years, practically any site with human activity in the region could be dated. I, myself, have been involved in this area of research since my student days at the University of Singapore (1971-1974), and I can testify that shipwrecks are currently supplying the single most important source of data in the task of dating these wares.
In this regard I have been working closely together with Sten Sjostrand (Principal researcher at Nanhai Marine Archaeology Sdn. Bhd.) since he contacted me in 1994. He cares very much that each wrecksite he discovers is documented. He employs strict systems in surveying and recording each site and its contens, with artifact numbers assigned to each object that also show their original location at the site. I have worked happily with Mr. Sjostrand and have never been disappointed in his methods of documentation and excavation.
Please contact me with any further questions: rxbrown@aol.com
Roxanna Brown"
"Dear Mr. Sjostrand,
Congratulations to your good work. Your research has not only contributed to the better understanding of Thai ceramic production and export but also to the export of Chinese ceramics".
"We meet with Sten Sjostrand at his base at Endau in Malaysia. He has been diving with extremely good results on ancient wrecks including the 'Royal Nanhai', 'Nanyang', 'Longquan', and 'Turiang', since retirement as a naval engineer. The last was of particular to us as it contained a large cargo of Sawankhalok ceramics.
Please allow me to recommend Sten to you. He is a sincere and intelligent person, deeply interested in the history of ceramics. He is also very proficient in what he does, and I think that he would be an excellent person to undertake the work in cooperation with Roxanna (with whom he closely collaborates) and the local authorities. We could also anticipate good cooperation between any project on the production sites and the underwater work".
Dr. Don Hein. Abstacts from reviewing the "Maritime Archaeology and Shipwreck Ceramics in Malaysia" (National Museum Exhibition Catalogue)
"Another valuable source of evidence is from shipwrecks, and shipwrecks have some unique characteristics. For example, they constitute time capsules that consist of elements that were together at one point in time – the ship, its cargo, and perhaps evidence of its crew and their belongings. Furthermore, it may be assumed that in most cases the various ceramic items found in association with a shipwreck were approximately contemporaneous, that is, were made and traded at about that time. Interpretation of shipwreck finds has led to major revisions of Asian ceramic history.
Understanding Shipwrecks.Each of the points made above, and many others, are contained in the text of a catalogue titled "Maritime Archaeology and Shipwreck Ceramics in Malaysia" co-authored by two well-known researchers, Roxanna Brown and Sten Sjostrand.
Brown's name has been attached to a long list of publications on Asian ceramics beginning in the early 1970's, principal among which is two editions of "The Ceramics of South-East Asia: Their Dating and Identification" (1977 and 1988). Her first paper on underwater archaeology was a report on the Koh Khram wreck (1975). Sjostrand is a mariner turned archaeologist who has dedicated himself to responsible commercial research.
For centuries, shipwrecks have been exploited. Whatever could be taken from them was seen as spoil to the advantage of the finder, usually someone brave enough to go down into the sea to salvage. Modern laws serve to protect such wrecks and the history they contain, although looting still persists to the concern and distain of professional researchers. Between the two moral positions lies that of the commercial researcher, someone who needs to obtain the means of sustaining research from a share of the profit of that research.
Who should undertake maritime research?
There is a lot of argument about whether anyone should be allowed to assume such a role. The purists with a good deal of justification say all historic sites should be protected and only investigated by those who are accepted as bona fide and whose interests are entirely scholarly. Several realities weaken that argument. One is that there are too few researchers with the diving skills available to do the work and also, regrettably, a lack of the considerable funding required to support it. Another is ongoing damage to wrecks themselves, or even their entire loss, either by action of the elements, looters, even more effectively by fishing trawler nets.
Most shipwreck cargoes of ceramics consist of large numbers of similar wares and usually there are more than enough to satisfy the need for museums and study collections. If it can be shown that the historical content of a wreck is properly documented, it might be argued that the sale of surplus material is justified. The collaborative work of Brown and Sjostrand appears to be an ideal outcome of such an arrangement. The recent commercialisation of the 'Hoi An', the 15th century shipwreck off the Vietnam coast containing over 200,000 pieces, may be a less than exemplary example of this. Scholars object that sale of cargo from that important discovery occurred before sufficient study had been done.
Research Matters.
Since late in the nineteenth century the research of Asian ceramics has been pursued by a growing number of dedicated people including historians, museum curators, field archaeologists, and competent amateurs. Important studies have been published. However, collectively the work has also been piecemeal. Some study was done by students or individuals who have moved on to other things, and in other cases research ceased when funding failed or interest waned. The absence of concerted programs has resulted in most land and some underwater sites being only superficially examined and others ignored. No major kiln site has been comprehensively investigated.
Due to the dedication of certain researchers and perhaps because shipwrecks offer a more limited and less complex historical condition, the situation is better in respect of maritime archaeology. The research of a wreck may be satisfactorily completed in a season or two, while the proper study of a large kiln site, such as Sisatchanalai (Sawankhalok) or Sukhothai in Thailand (wares from which constitute an important element of this exhibition and catalogue), would take many years of sustained effort.
In fact, very little has been done at Sukhothai and basic questions concerning its foundation, duration, chronology, sequence of production, and related kiln and ware typology remain unresolved. The apparent policy of inactivity is unjustified as destructive looting at the site remains a serious problem. Despite some years of work at Sisatchanalai, the amount of excavation at the site is relatively small and important production nodes including the jar and fishplate kilns have not been sufficiently examined. For more than a decade nothing has been done there. Meanwhile, much of the production area is experiencing increasing occupation and urbanisation, and except in a few small areas, farming is uninhibited.
A common factor, especially at the institutional level, is the failure to facilitate study, a condition underlined by a lack of understanding of the need for comprehensive and ongoing research. The most active and productive research centres are small and privately run, an example being the one in Malaysia operated by Sten Sjostrand. The absence of such individuals from the study of ceramics would be a severe loss to archaeological research.
In Southeast Asia, the greatest amount of research has been done in Thailand, to a lesser degree in Vietnam, Laos, and less yet in Myanmar. In all likelihood, there are additional production sites yet to be found in each of those countries. For example, nearly all of the discovered historic kiln sites in Myanmar have been discovered in the last few years during preliminary surveys.
Publication.
The first publication by these two authors was "Turiang: a Fourteenth Century Shipwreck in Southeast Asian Waters" (published in 2000 by the Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena). This monograph set a high standard that is exceeded by 'Shipwreck Ceramics'. The superior quality of the binding and dust cover give the work a long useable life. The text is precise, learned, and wonderfully readable. The authors evaluate a number of shipwrecks and their cargoes dating from the fourteenth to the nineteenth century. Their appraisal contains important technical and descriptive detail within a broad historical context. The reader is allowed to understand the relationship of the finds to the story of the production and trade of Asian ceramics.
This book provides detail on the structure and construction of Asian trading vessels that complements the work of other marine archaeologists such as Jeremy Green (Maritime Museum, Fremantle, Australia). For the ceramics enthusiast, the book is a mine of information and provocative questions.
Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to see the Malaysian Department of Museums & Antiquities exhibition Maritime Archaeology and Shipwreck Ceramics in Malaysia to which the Brown and Sjostrand catalogue relates. However, the Department and the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism Malaysia are to be congratulated for the commitment and vision that underpin the exhibition and the research that gave rise to it."
Dr. Don Hein, Adelaide, Australia.
Email address: donhein@optusnet.au
THE ONLY PLACE WHERE YOU CAN BE SURE TO BUY GENUINE ANTIQUES
Nanhai Marine Archaeology Sdn. Bhd. was incorporated on the recommendation of the Malaysian authorities. This was done in order to formalize and to expand on the company’s researcher’s extensive knowledge of Asia’s ceramic developments and maritime trade.
The company’s researchers have been engaged in the search for historical shipwrecks for more than two decades and another decade researching maritime trade. Most of this work is concentrated to the South China Sea, a virtual highway for ancient shipping linking China to India, the Middle East and Southeast Asia in an extensive maritime trade system. This ancient trade started sometime around the 4th century and lasted well into the 19th century.
Following a successful shipwreck discovery, the company obtain a government permit to excavate the wreckage, and then carry out detailed marine archaeological procedures in recovering the artifacts, mapping the ship's remains and securing other data for future research. After each concluded project and following conservation of recovered artifacts, we search for and pinpoint ruined kiln sites and compare its wasters with the recovered ceramics until we are satisfied we located the place in which the shipwreck pottery was made centuries earlier.
As such we have precisely located a kiln sites in Sisatchanalai, northern Thailand in which our Royal Nanhai and the Nanyang shipwreck celadon ware was made around AD. 1380-1460. (See videos on: http://www.china-pottery.com/photopage.html ) Other kilns was located in Sukhothai where production wasters matched the fish and flower plates found on the Turiang and the Longquan shipwreck. These unique underglaze decorated wares was made at those exact kilns 600 years earlier! Our latest shipwreck cargo; The Wanli Shipwreck, of Chinese blue and white porcelain, was likewise pinpointed to the Guangyinge kiln site in Jingdezhen, China. (See video on: http://www.china-pottery.com/photopage.html )
Our arrangement with the Malaysian authorities is such that we finance all operations and train young Malaysian nationals (on our initiative) in maritime archaeology and related research. After giving all unique and single artifacts and thirty percent of all recovered items to the National Museum (and assisting with exhibitions of artifacts from each project) we are allowed to sell our portion of the recovery to finance future projects. The findings from ongoing research and the compilation of reports, books and catalogues are available on these pages as well as on a separate Internet site: http://www.maritimeasia.ws
Due to the unquestionable authenticity and precisely dated shipwreck pottery, many International Museums now display our shipwreck pieces as reference material.
The artifacts sold on this website are therefore legally and properly excavated and can be supplied with an export permit from the Department of Museum in Malaysia should this be required. This unique working arrangement makes us one of the few Internet sellers that sell from own excavation and issues a meaningful Certificate of Authenticity for every (numbered) piece sold.
So, if you are interested to purchase some of our Antique porcelain, old time pottery or other shipwreck artifacts from the Song dynasty, Ming pottery or Chinese blue and white porcelain or the famous Yixing teapots, you can rest assured that every piece is excavated through proper archaeology by our own staff. We do not sell anything that is not excavated by ourselves or properly recorded and researched before offered for sale so every piece comes with the “Best possible provenance”
WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO EMAIL OUR PRINCIPAL RESEARCHER; Sten Sjostrand SHOULD YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR POSSIBLE PURCHASE
