The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. XLIV, Part 1-2, 1956 - Khamkoo

Siam and the Pottery 'l'l'ade of Asia 81
were exchanged for the products of India and the Nem· East. Some
pottery was also shipped overlanu from Ohina by the old silk route
across Asia. By the Ming period, howeve1·, there arose such a strong
demand for Ohi.nese ceramics throughout Asia that the Ohinese began
to participate in this trade on a much larger scale. One significant
as well as picturesque result was the series of spectacnlar maritime
expeditions undertaken on orders of the Emperor Yung-Lo ( 7 ~~)
by the Mohammedan court eunuch Cheng H6 ( ~~~ll') who held the
rank of admiral. His expeditions not only visited Ohampa, Siam
and Java, but India, Persia and Arabia and possibly the east coast
of Africa, one curious by-product of which was the bringing of the
first live giraffe to OhhHt. 'l'hese voyages have been described by
J.J.L. Dnyvendak in his engaging monograph China's Discovery of
Aj·rica and in his brillant article in 'l''ozmg Pao. One important
result of Oheng Hu's voyages was the re-establishment of tributary
relations with Sumatra, for among the subsequent tribute goods were
much-needed supplies of cobalt which the Ohinese used for making
tbe underglaze blue of their famous Ming wares.
'l'he widespread dissemination of Ohinese ceramics throng hout
Asia from as early as the T'ang period down into the Ming period
is an almost unbelievable story.
White 'l"ang pieces were being
copied in Persia as early as the 9th centmy, long before the Mongol
Hulagu b:ronght Ohinese potters to 'l'abriz, and Ting glazes and shapes
were being imitated by Persian potters in the 12th century. By the
following century the Persians were nsing the same types of enamel
glazes developed by the Ohiuese.
Sung fragments have been
unearthed at Samarra, the temporary residence of the Oaliphs of
Baghdad, destroyed in the 9th century, and similar shards have
been found in excavations at Fostat near Oairo. There is a record
of a shipmen.t of forty pieces of celadon from Egypt to Damascus in
1170. Ming blue and white shards were found at Hama, a city in
nort~ern Syria desLroyed by 'l'iruur in1401, and fl'agments of celadon
and other Ohin(;)se wares have been unearthed at various sites in
Persia, India and even at Mombasa and Zanzibar.
It would almost