MICHAEL WOERNER 2018 Oriental Art (CULTURES Brussels)

Michael Woerner
ORIENTAL ART
EARTHEN BEAUTY
Masterpieces of Early Thai Ceramics
from the Dr. Kurt Sandmair Collection

MICHAEL WOERNER
Oriental Art
2018
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M i c h a e l Woerner
Oriental Art 2018
EARTHEN BEAUTY
Masterpieces of Early Thai Ceramics
from the Dr. Kurt Sandmair Collection
Bangkok · Hong Kong
By appointment
Tel. +66-89-224.9678
micwoerner@yahoo.com
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Dr. Kurt Sandmair
1932 – 2013
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After our widely acclaimed 2017 exhibition in Brussels of the KOBALT SERIES
ceramics of contemporary Thai artist Wasinburee Supanichvoraparch (with a
follow-up show in December 2017 in Hamburg, and three others in Europe and
the U.S. in the planning), we return to CULTURES with a celebration of the
roots of Thai ceramic art: Earthen Beauty – Masterpieces of Early Thai Ceramics
from the Dr. Kurt Sandmair Collection.
In his professional life Dr Kurt Sandmair was a well-known and highly respected
patent and intellectual property lawyer in Munich. From early on he developed a
passionate interest in the early cultures of Southeast Asia to where he travelled
frequently from the mid-1960s onwards. He was in particular fascinated by the
early ceramics of Mainland Southeast Asia. His extensive business contacts
in Southeast Asia and his frequent visits to museums, art fairs and dealers in
Europe and the U.S. encouraged him to acquire between the mid-1960s and
the early 1980s one of the most significant collections of early Southeast Asian
ceramics. Ready to share his knowledge he contributed to museum exhibitions
and publications. Numerous examples from his collection are nowadays in the
Five Continents Museum (the former Völkerkunde-Museum) in Munich, and
the Museum für Asiatische Kunst in Berlin, as well as in other renowned private
collections in Southeast Asia, Japan, Europe and the U.S.
We are honored to showcase some 50 of the finest ceramics from his collection
during CULTURES 2018 in Brussels. Our deep gratitude goes to Mrs I. Sandmair
for making these wonderful objects available for publication and further studies.
We take due diligence seriously: all ceramics in this catalogue have been crosschecked
with the ART LOSS REGISTER, London.
We look forward to seeing you in Brussels.
MICHAEL WOERNER
Brussels, June 2018
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EARLY THAI CERAMICS
FROM NEOLITHIC TO IRON AGE
The beginnings of any form of art always confront us with one of the fundamental
questions in life: Where do we come from ? Within the context of the
Prehistory of Mainland Southeast Asia Prof. Charles Higham of the University
Otago, New Zealand, must be credited with puzzling together the probably
most concise history of development of our human species over a time span of
two million years. His publication “Early Mainland Southeast Asia – From First
Humans to Angkor” (River Books, Bangkok, 2014) offers in one single volume
and in a brilliantly lucid language a fascinating journey through this period.
Since 1969 Prof. Higham focused his research on the prehistory of Northeastern
Thailand. With the advances of technology, and in particular with the application
of Bayesian analysis of C14 determinations, he developed a precise timeline
for several of the Northeastern Thai archaeological sites, spanning from the
Neolithic of the early second millennium BCE, through the Bronze Age (circa
1000 – 300 BCE) to the Iron Age (300 BCE – 200 CE).
A substantial amount of our current knowledge about the first and second
millennium BCE derives from the analysis of mortuary traditions. Numerous
burial sites containing pottery vessels have been uncovered in Northeastern
Thailand, the probably most significant, scientifically excavated site being Ban
Non Wat, located in the Upper Mun Valley on the Khorat Plateau. Here, over
a period of 600 years and about 25 generations, social changes can be analyzed
from changes in mortuary traditions from the late Neolithic to the end of the
Bronze Age.
Above: Panorama view of the design on the Neolithic Cylindrical Vessel, p. 10-11.
Page 7: Detail of Bowl with Human Figures, p. 44-45.
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Accidental surface finds of pottery shards in the early 1960s near Ban Chiang in
Udon Thani province led to the discovery of a large funerary site and adjacent
settlement which had been occupied from circa 1500 BCE to at least 200 CE.
Thousands of pottery items have been unearthed over the years in numerous
sites in Northern and Central Thailand, early on by the local villagers, later on
in archaeological excavations. Most of these pottery items are stored in museum
and private collections in Thailand and all over the world, bearing testimony to
a significant period of human settlement in Southeast Asia.
The earliest pottery wares are dating into the Neolithic
period (circa 1800 – 1000 BCE), during which the transition
from hunting and gathering to rice farming settlements
gradually took place. Often made of a dark clay, incised
with still enigmatic patterns, they were, after fireing, often
burnished to a high degree.
The custom to bury the deceased with precious goods
as pottery, bronzes and a variety of ornaments became
more elaborate during the Bronze Age (circa 1000 – 300
BCE). “Rich” and “poorer” burials suggest that elite
individuals and groups emerged which had preferential
access to valuable traded and imported goods. Designs
on pottery vessels were not only incised anymore, but
white slips and red pigments were employed on more and
more complex patterns.
During the Iron Age (circa 300 BCE – 200 CE) pottery
vessels in burials often were of substantial sizes and
painted with even more complex designs. Plain incised
patterns almost completely disappeared. While most of
the designs are defying interpretations, a few pottery
vessels are known with depictions of animals (see frontispiece
and p. 42) or human figures (p. 43 – 45).
Trade with India from the beginning of the 1st millennium
CE (and possibly even before that) did not only
bring a vast variety of imported goods to Southeast Asia,
but also the art of state building and the two dominant
religions Hinduism and Buddhism. With changes in
the political, social and economic landscape, funerary
traditions changed and so did the production of pottery.
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THE NEOLITHIC
CIRCA 1800 – 1000 BC
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CYLINDRICAL VESSEL
WITH LOOP HANDLES
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11
Purportedly environs of Ban Chiang
Neolithic Period 1. Circa 1700 – 1500 BC
Black pottery. Height 32 cm

JAR WITH EVERTED RIM
Purportedly environs of Ban Chiang
Neolithic Period 1. Circa 1700 – 1500 BC
Black pottery. Height 19.5 cm
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JAR WITH EVERTED RIM
Purportedly environs of Ban Chiang
Neolithic Period 1. Circa 1700 – 1500 BC
Grey pottery. Height 30 cm
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VESSELS
Purportedly environs of Ban Chiang
Neolithic Period 1. Circa 1700 – 1500 BC
Left: Jar. Black pottery. Height 22 cm
Middle: Bowl. Black pottery. Height 14 cm
Right: Jar. Black pottery. Height 27 cm
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VESSELS
Purportedly environs of Ban Chiang
Neolithic Period 1. Circa 1700 – 1500 BC
Left: Jar. Black pottery. Height 30 cm
Middle: Jar. Cream-colored pottery. Height 19.5 cm
Right: Stem Bowl. Black pottery. Height 27.5 cm
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JAR
Purportedly environs of Ban Chiang
Neolithic Period 1. Circa 1700 – 1500 BC
Black pottery. Height 19.5 cm
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JARS
Purportedly environs of Ban Chiang
Neolithic Period 1 and 2.
Left: Circa 1700 – 1500 BC. Grey pottery. Height 13.5 cm
Right: Circa 1500 – 1200 BC. Grey pottery with white slip
and red zig-zag pattern. Height 12.5 cm
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STEM BOWLS
Purportedly border areas Eastern Thailand - Cambodia
Neolithic Period. Circa 1800 – 1000 BC
Black pottery. Height 16.5 and 15 cm
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LARGE JAR
Purportedly from environs of Roi Et
Neolithic Period 2. Circa 1500 – 1000 BC
Grey pottery with combed design,
white slip with red splashes. Height 37 cm
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BOWLS
Purportedly from environs of Roi Et
Neolithic Period 2. Circa 1500 – 1000 BC
Dark brown very fine pottery
Left: Height 10 cm
Right: Height 6.5 cm
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STEM CUP
Purportedly from environs of Roi Et
Neolithic Period 2. Circa 1500 – 1000 BC
Dark brown very fine pottery with incised and
impressed design. Height 20 cm
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THE BRONZE AGE
CIRCA 1000 – 300 BC
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VESSELS WITH EVERTED RIM
Purportedly from the Upper Mun Valley
Early Bronze Age. Circa 1000 – 850 BC
Reddish brown, highly burnished pottery
Height (left to right) 17 / 20.5 / 25.5 / 15 cm
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STEM TRAYS
Purportedly from the Upper Mun Valley
Early Bronze Age. Circa 1000 – 850 BC
Reddish brown, highly burnished pottery
Height (left to right) 9 / 15.5 / 28 / 9 cm
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JAR
Purportedly from the Upper Mun Valley
Early Bronze Age. Circa 1000 – 800 BC
Grey pottery with white slip and red painted design
on the body and inside the rim.
Height 15.5 cm
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JARS
Purportedly environs of Ban Chiang
Middle Bronze Age. Circa 800 – 500 BC
Grey pottery with white slip and incised and
painted design
Height (left) 12.5 cm; (right) 24.5 cm
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FOOTED BOWL
Purportedly environs of Ban Chiang
Middle Bronze Age. Circa 800 – 500 BC
Grey pottery with white slip and incised and painted design
Height 18.5 cm
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STEM CUP
Purportedly environs of Ban Chiang
Middle Bronze Age. Circa 800 – 500 BC
Grey pottery with white slip and incised and painted design
Height 20 cm
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STEM BOWLS
Purportedly environs of Ban Chiang
Middle - late Bronze Age. Circa 500 – 300 BC
Grey pottery with white slip and incised and painted design
Height (left to right) 28 / 24.5 / 25 cm
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STEM BOWLS
Purportedly environs of Ban Chiang
Middle - late Bronze Age. Circa 500 – 300 BC
Grey pottery with white slip and incised and painted design
Height (left to right) 24 / 24.5 / 25 cm
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THE IRON AGE
CIRCA 300 BC – 200 CE
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VESSELS
Purportedly environs of Ban Chiang
Iron Age. Circa 300 BC – 200 CE
Grey pottery with white slip and red painted design
Height (left to right) 17 / 16.5 / 30 cm
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VESSELS
Purportedly environs of Ban Chiang
Iron Age. Circa 300 BC – 200 CE
Grey pottery with white slip and red painted design
Height (left) 16 cm; (right) 16.8 cm
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VESSELS
Purportedly environs of Ban Chiang
Iron Age. Circa 300 BC – 200 CE
Grey pottery with white slip and red painted design
Height (left to right) 14.5 / 15.5 / 21.5 cm
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DISH AND FOOTED BOWL
Purportedly environs of Ban Chiang
Iron Age. Circa 300 BC – 200 CE
Grey pottery with white slip and red painted design
Diameter of Dish 20.5 cm
Height of Bowl 18 cm
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FOOTED JAR
Purportedly environs of Ban Chiang
Iron Age. Circa 300 BC – 200 CE
Grey pottery with white slip and red painted design
Height 28 cm
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JAR WITH
CATERPILLAR PATTERN
Purportedly environs of Ban Chiang
Iron Age. Circa 300 BC – 200 CE
Grey pottery with white slip and red painted design
Height 28.5 cm
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FOOTED JAR
Purportedly environs of Ban Chiang
Iron Age. Circa 300 BC – 200 CE
Grey pottery with white slip and red painted design
Height 21 cm
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JAR AND SPOON
Purportedly environs of Ban Chiang
Iron Age. Circa 300 BC – 200 CE
Grey pottery with white slip and red painted design
Height of Bowl 25.5 cm. Length of Spoon 11 cm
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THE NAUTILUS JAR
Purportedly environs of Ban Chiang
Iron Age. Circa 300 BC – 200 CE
Grey pottery with white slip and red painted design
Height 16 cm
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JAR FRAGMENT WITH
HUMAN FIGURES
Purportedly environs of Ban Chiang
Iron Age. Circa 300 BC – 200 CE
Grey pottery with white slip and red painted design
Length 14 cm

POTTERY BOWL WITH
HUMAN FIGURES
Purportedly environs of Ban Chiang
Iron Age. Circa 300 BC – 200 CE
Grey pottery with white slip and red painted design
Height 21 cm. Diameter 33 cm.
Art Loss Register Certificate ref. S00087436
Considered to be one of the most important prehistoric settlements in Southeast Asia, Ban Chiang
in Northern Thailand, related settlements across the Mekong in Laos, and their associated culture
flourished in the 1st millennium BCE and the early centuries of our era. It is famed for its red-painted
pottery, unparalleled anywhere in Southeast Asia. While virtually all mid- to late-period pottery
is decorated with spiral and curvilinear patterns, depictions of animals are extremely rare. And not
more than ten vessels, or fragments of them, painted with human figures have been uncovered.
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All the more exciting because of its rarity is this previously unpublished, comparatively large and almost
perfectly preserved footed bowl which is painted on its inside with six large human figures. In style and
color scheme the figures are reminiscent of early cave paintings in central and northeastern Thailand.
In striking contrast to the painted interior, the outside of the bowl is the epitome of simplicity: with the
exception of a small red wavy line below the rim the only décor consists of irregular tiny grooves in the
surface, possibly from a wooden or clay paddle. The attractive color variations on the outside, ranging
from a light cream to a dark grey, are mere chance creations of the firing.
A jar fragment, of which the whereabouts are unfortunately unknown, depicts a very similar decorative
pattern - the only known parallel.
1
Chin You-Di, Ban Chiang Prehistoric Cultures (Bangkok: Fine Arts Department, 1975), fig. 21.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For their trust and cooperation in the past 29 years, we would like to express our
gratitude to the following institutions:
Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum, Cologne
Museum der Insel Hombroich, Neuss-Holzheim
Linden-Museum, Sxtuttgart
Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde, Munich
Musée Barbier-Mueller, Genève
Museum der Kulturen, Basel
Rietberg-Museum, Zuerich
Musée des Arts Asiatiques Guimet, Paris
Musée des Arts Asiatiques, Nice
Musées Royaux d‘Art et d‘Histoire, Brussels
The Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The British Museum, London
The British Library, London
The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Oxford
Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore
Indian Heritage Trust, Singapore
Bangkok University Museum, Bangkok
The Prasart Museum, Bangkok
The Bangkok Insurance Museum, Bangkok
The Suan Pakkad Palace Collection, Bangkok
T. T. Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong
The Ayala Museum, Manila
The Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo
Matsuoka Museum of Art, Tokyo
Idemitsu Museum, Tokyo
The Museum Yamato Bunkakan, Nara
Miho Museum, Shigaraki
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Asia Society, New York
The Rubin Museum of Art, New York
Newark Museum, Newark
The Fine Arts Museum, Boston
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
The MacLean Collection of Art, Mundelein, Illinois
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis
The Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama
The Trammell & Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art, Dallas
The Fine Arts Museum, Houston
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
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The publication of his collection of early Thai Ceramics has been a life-long dream
of the late Dr. Kurt Sandmair. Such a publication had been proposed to museums
but it unfortunately did not come to fruition during his life-time. In honor of
the pottery artists of the first and second millennium BCE, and in memory of
the passionate collector Dr Kurt Sandmair we are delighted to present this small
catalogue of a substantial part of his collection. Our deep gratitude goes to Mrs
Ingrid Sandmair for her encouragement and support of this project.
Mrs Petra Trempelmann - in cooperation with Mr Henrikus Simonis, Düsseldorf -
has been producing and printing our catalogues for a good number years. I am
most grateful to both of them and to the team of Das Druckhaus, Korschenbroich,
for their professional and always warmhearted work.
A special Thank You goes to our photographer-turned-musician Jörg Schanze,
Düsseldorf and Fuerteventura, for his admirable patience during full-day photo
shootings.
Not surprisingly, preparations for fairs and writing catalogues require substantial
amounts of time. But more than that they also required an enormous patience
from everyone in my wonderful family. A heartfelt Thank You to everyone of
you, big and small, near and far, for your understanding, care and support during
this time. It could not have been done without you.
MICHAEL WOERNER
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COVER PHOTOS
Front cover:
POTTERY BOWL WITH HUMAN FIGURES
See page 44-45.
Frontispiece:
POTTERY JAR WITH BUFFALOES
Purportedly environs of Ban Chiang
Iron Age. Circa 300 BC – 200 CE
Grey pottery with white slip and red painted design
Height circa 28 cm
Private collection Germany (formerly in the Dr Kurt Sandmair Collection)
Back cover:
THE NAUTILUS JAR
See page 42
© Michael Woerner – Oriental Art, June 2018
Bangkok - Hong Kong
By appointment
Tel. +66-89-224.9678
micwoerner@yahoo.com
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M i c h a e l Woerner
Oriental Art
Bangkok · Hong Kong
By appointment
Tel. +66-89-224.9678
micwoerner@yahoo.com