East and West Questions·The Treasure of the Town Hall丨Chen Zisheng: How did West Asian pottery come to China more than a thousand years ago?

　　Editor's note:

　　The beauty of the national treasure, through ancient and modern times, is used to carry the Tao, and it is magnificent.

Behind each rare cultural relic is the ingenuity and wisdom of the ancients, engraved with the cultural genes of the Chinese nation, and witnessing the exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations.

Starting from January 11, 2023, China News Agency "East and West Questions" launched a series of plans for "Treasures of Town Halls" (1), using experts to explore the meaning of cultural relics and the stories behind them.

　　China News Agency, Fuzhou, January 16. Question: How did West Asian pottery come to China more than a thousand years ago?

　　——Interview with Chen Zisheng, Director of Social Education Department of Fujian Museum

　　China News Agency reporter Long Min

　　As the earliest peacock blue-glazed utensils discovered in China, one of the Persian peacock blue-glazed pottery vases is now in the collection of Fujian Museum.

This was unearthed in 1965 from the tomb of Liu Hua, wife of Wang Yanjun, the fifth king of Fujian, in Lianhuafeng, the northern suburb of Fuzhou.

　　One wonders what kind of pottery these peacock blue glazed vases are?

How did it come to China from West Asia and Persia?

Chen Zisheng, director of the Social Education Department of Fujian Museum, a research librarian, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency "East and West" to explain this.

　　The interview transcript is summarized as follows:

China News Agency reporter: As the "treasure of the town hall" of the Fujian Museum, how was the peacock blue glazed pottery vase discovered?

What kind of pottery is this?

Chen Zisheng:

In the mid-1960s, the Fujian Provincial Museum (now named "Fujian Museum") cleaned up the tomb of Liu Hua, the wife of Wang Yanjun, the third king of Fujian during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, on the south slope of Dongbao Mountain, Lianhua Peak, in the northern suburb of Fuzhou.

The tomb was stolen in the early years, and most of the precious items were looted. Only three peacock blue glazed pottery vases, three stone-covered rosettes and a group of pottery figurines with exquisite sculptures reminiscent of the prosperous Tang Dynasty were cleared out.

Currently, one of the three peacock blue glazed bottles is in the Fujian Museum, one is in the National Museum, and the other is in the Quanzhou Overseas Transportation History Museum.

　　The peacock blue glazed pottery vases are very eye-catching. They are all relatively large and blue glazed on the surface.

The shape and size of the utensils are similar, all of which have a narrow mouth, a bulging belly, and a small bottom, with a total height of 74.5 cm to 78 cm.

The outer abdominal wall is a streamer-like pattern made of three groups of mud strips, and the lower abdomen is a wave pattern.

Two of them have three ears attached to the shoulder and neck.

　　This is the earliest peacock blue glazed utensil found in China, which has attracted widespread attention in the academic circles.

Authoritative experts speculate that, no matter in terms of shape or material, it is unlikely to be a product of ancient Chinese kilns, but introduced from the West Asia and Persia regions.

　　The peacock blue-glazed pottery vase originated in Persia, because of its special historical, cultural and artistic value, can be called the "treasure of the town hall" of Fujian Museum. The physical testimony of the friendly exchanges between the people of the region through sea routes.

In 2021, the peacock blue glazed pottery vase also represented the Fujian Museum in the "National Treasure" series.

Peacock Blue Glazed Clay Vase.

Photo courtesy of Fujian Museum

China News Agency reporter: Why is the peacock blue glazed pottery vase identified as produced in the Persian region of West Asia around the 9th century?

Chen Zisheng:

The peacock blue-glazed pottery vase unearthed in the tomb of Liu Hua during the Five Dynasties of Fujian is not a Chinese product, but an imported one.

At that time, Fujian had commercial relations with South Asia, West Asia and other regions. It is recorded in historical books: "Fuzhou paid tribute to tortoiseshell glazed rhinoceros and elephant vessels, and there are many kinds of rare objects, fragrant medicines, rare products, and colors, and the price is tens of millions." Obviously, Many of these tributes from Fujian are imported products with a strong exotic color.

　　From the epitaph of Liu Hua's tomb, it is known that Liu Hua, the owner of the tomb, was the second daughter of Liu Yin, king of the Southern Han Dynasty during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. He died in 930 AD.

It can be seen from this that the age of these three peacock blue glazed pottery vases should be before 930 AD.

　　According to historical data, the Chinese native peacock blue glaze appeared relatively late, and it is generally believed that it did not appear until after Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty, that is, after the 16th century AD.

The peacock-blue blue-and-white dish with fish and lotus patterns in the Shanghai Museum is dated to the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty; the blue-glazed white flower dish in the Hong Kong Museum of Art is also in the Ming Dynasty.

　　Judging from the shape, texture and surface decoration of the peacock blue glazed pottery vase, similar objects have been found in Iran, Iraq and many other places, and they are consistent with the Islamic glazed pottery from the 9th to the 10th century AD.

　　Therefore, the origin of these three pottery vases should be from ancient Persia.

Ancient Persia was famous for its pottery making. The glaze was applied on the outside of the pottery. The glaze colors were yellow, blue and blue, especially the light blue glaze was the most distinctive.

　　Persia has had friendly exchanges with China for a long time. After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the relationship was particularly close, and the trade was quite frequent.

Relevant experts believe that these three peacock blue-glazed pottery vases should be ancient Persian products, which were imported to China before 930 A.D. under the background of the "Maritime Silk Road".

　　Three stone-carved rosettes were also unearthed from Liu Hua's tomb.

According to experts' speculation, they should be the bases of three peacock blue glazed pottery vases.

In ancient Persia, this type of vessel was often used to hold oil. In order to stabilize the body of the vessel, the Persians often buried the bottom of the vessel in the ground.

The peacock blue-glazed pottery vase in Liu Hua's tomb is probably used to hold oil as an "eternal lamp".

The tomb is a stone tomb, and the ground is also paved with stone slabs, so a stone-carved lotus seat was specially made to stabilize the utensils.

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, three pieces of peacock blue-glazed pottery vases, three stone-covered lotus seats, and a group of exquisitely sculpted pottery figurines reminiscent of the prosperous Tang Dynasty were unearthed from the tomb of Liu Hua, the wife of Wang Yanjun, the third monarch of Fujian.

Photo courtesy of Fujian Museum

China News Agency reporter: How did these exquisite West Asian pottery come to China?

Chen Zisheng:

This peacock blue-glazed pottery vase is not an isolated example of West Asian pottery spreading to China.

Experts from the Fujian Provincial Museum also found several pieces of peacock blue glazed pottery when they investigated the tomb of Wangchao in Fengqishan, Luoyang Town, Hui'an, Quanzhou. The glaze color, pottery quality and thickness of the vessel are all consistent with the peacock blue glazed pottery vase unearthed from the tomb of Liu Hua in Fuzhou. .

　　Wang Chao, formerly known as Wang Shenchao, was the founder of Fujian, one of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. He died in the first year of Tang Zhaozong Guanghua (898 A.D.); Liu Hua died in the first year of Changxing (930 A.D.), 32 years apart.

In terms of age, from 898 AD to 930 AD, the peacock blue glazed pottery vase was buried as a funeral object, which may be a funeral ritual or custom of the princes and nobles of Fujian.

　　The peacock blue-glazed pottery vase exhibited in the exhibition hall of the Fujian Museum is relatively large in size, and the ceramics are relatively fragile and cannot withstand repeated transfers. It should have been directly transported to Fuzhou from Iran.

That is to say, the peacock blue-glazed pottery vase entered Fujian from Fuzhou Port by ship along the sea route.

　　Since the Tang Dynasty, the "Silk Road" on land has gradually declined or been interrupted due to wars, while the transportation capacity of the "Maritime Silk Road" has leapt to the top of the transportation between China and the West.

At that time, due to the development of China's shipbuilding industry and the advancement of sea navigation technology, in the Tang Dynasty there was a large ship called "Cang Ship", which was 20 feet long and could carry six or seven hundred people; to 30,000 shi.

　　In the southeast coast during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Fuzhou Port has risen.

According to Xue Neng's poem "Send Fujian Doctor Li", Fuzhou has "ships to the city to add foreigners", which reflects the grand occasion of Fuzhou's business with overseas.

At that time, Fuzhou Port was already an important port for the entrepot trade of "Persian goods" entering China.

It is also recorded in the "Quan Tang Shu" that at that time, there were already merchants who were engaged in the trade of Persian goods into China, and made a lot of money in the trade.

　　After the peacock blue-glazed pottery vase was discovered in Liu Hua's tomb, similar objects were also found in Yangzhou, Ningbo, Quanzhou, Guilin, Rongxian, Guangzhou and other places.

Except for Guilin and Rongxian, these areas were all important port cities in China from the 9th to the 10th century AD, which from one aspect confirmed the prosperity of the sea trade economy at that time.

Peacock blue glazed pottery vase displayed in the exhibition hall of Fujian Museum.

Photo by Lu Ming

Reporter from China News Agency: The unearthed peacock blue glazed pottery vase has witnessed the prosperity of the ancient "Maritime Silk Road".

Today, the high-quality co-construction of the "Belt and Road" is being promoted in an all-round way. How to learn from the past and pass on the spirit of the Silk Road?

Chen Zisheng:

The peacock blue glazed pottery vase has special historical, cultural and artistic value. It is one of the imported goods from overseas, and it is also a witness of the friendly exchanges between the people of China and West Asia.

　　As one of the main fronts for cultural dissemination, the cultural relics owned by museums carry the common memory of the people along the “Belt and Road”, promote ideological and cultural exchanges in the areas along the route, and have a positive and far-reaching impact on social development and national consciousness.

Under the new situation, the core task of the museum is to guide the audience to look back at the glorious development of civilization through cultural relics and exhibitions.

The exterior of Fujian Museum.

Photo courtesy of Fujian Museum

　　In 2013, Fujian Museum joined forces with 45 museums in seven coastal provinces of China to gather more than 300 pieces of cultural relics and held the "Sail on the Silk Road-Seven Provinces Joint Exhibition of Cultural Relics on the Maritime Silk Road".

Up to now, the exhibition has been exhibited in many provinces and cities in China.

　　At the same time, in order to let the young people know more about the thousand-year style of the "Silk Road", we have developed eight series of educational courses with the themes of porcelain, silk clothing, tea, spices, animals and plants, food, navigation and shipbuilding; On the basis of this, he edited and published the popular science textbook "The Silk Road on the Bite of the Tongue", which is deeply loved by readers.

　　Through the holding of the exhibition and the development of educational activities, it is hoped that the audience, especially the young people, will deeply feel the cultural connotation of the "Silk Road" and the joint construction of the "Belt and Road". The significance of the road".

(Finish)

Respondent profile:

　　Chen Zisheng, research librarian, director of the Social Education Department of Fujian Museum, deputy director of the Social Education Committee of the China Association of Museums.

He has been engaged in museum social education work for a long time, mainly committed to the research of museum public education and communication and promotion, presided over and participated in the compilation of "Stories of Cultural Relics - A General Reader of Fujian Ancient Civilization", "The Silk Road on the Bite of the Tongue", etc.