Guanyu Wang

According to historical texts,Portuguese first arrived in China in 1514 AD.However, because of the poor diplomatic relations, Portuguese resorted to smuggling along Chinese coasts and neighboring islands, since they were forbidden to trade near the mainland.It was not until 1553 AD that Portuguese occupied Macau and gradually developed it into a main stronghold of Sino-Portuguese maritime trade. Since then, the Sino-Portuguese trade rapidly grew and developed into a stable, prosperous business. During the second half of 16th century, Chinese porcelain wares were traded to Portuguese market at a large sales, and were widely used among the daily life of royal family, nobility and religious communities. However, due to the limitation of publication on local discoveries and its written language, we still know little about the details of these wares. Thus, this paper will introduce the porcelain pieces discovered from a monastery site at Coimbra, Portugal, to clarify the main types and styles of the Sino-Portuguese trade porcelain of this time.

In the year of 1511, the Portuguese occupied Malacca and turned it into a stronghold through which they penetrated into the traditional trade network in Southeast Asia and sought trade with the Chinese merchants who were traveling actively in the district. In 1521, as the Ming court refused to establish diplomatic relations and bilateral trade with Portugal, trade with the Portuguese was officially banned near the southeast coast of China. Thus, most of the Portuguese merchants had to move to the islands beyond the reach of the Ming government. Since then, they had been increasingly involved in local smuggling and remained active on these islands till the opening of Macau (1553) as a legal trade port for the Portuguese. The details of the Portuguese’s sailing and trade during this period are not so clear due to the limited records in documents and archives, but are traceable through the Chinese porcelain wares that were exported as commodities at the time. Therefore, this paper will study the early porcelain wares traded between China and Portugal to see the trade scale, sailing route and trade methods at the early stage of the Portuguese’s arrival in China. These wares are museum collections and archaeological findings in China, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe. With information on historical records combined, this paper will explore the stories behind the wares to enhance our understanding of the early history of maritime trade between China and Portugal.

Starting from the end of the 15th century, the Portuguese became the first Europeans arriving at the China coast. The maritime trade between China and the Portugal stepped into a long difficult period till the Portuguese occupied Macau in 1553 and legally traded at Canton in 1554. Due to the limitation of records in documents and archives, it is really difficult to figure out the details of the Portuguese activities near the Chinese Coast during the very initial stage of their arrival. But the facts are still traceable throughout the Chinese porcelain wares that were exported by the Portuguese at that time. In this paper, the author will focus on the study on a group of Blue and White Yuhuchun Bottles, on which, Portuguese marks with the same content are presented. The marks are showing that the bottles were ordered in the year of 1552 by a Portuguese merchant who was active in the maritime trade near the Chinese Southeast Coast. By tracing the details of trade and related activities conducted by this merchant, the paper will demonstrate the great contribution the early Portuguese merchants had made to the development of maritime trade with China as well as other Asian districts.

Since the 16th century, Europeans started to explore the Asian sea with the financial and military support from both the royal families and nobles. Their efforts to trade with China drew the Ming Empire into the early Globalization. The beautiful artefacts with perfect craftsmanship made in Ming China soon became popular products around the world, among which, the Chinese porcelain was undoubtedly marked as the top brand. Europeans had participated actively into the stages of designing, producing, shipping and trading of Chinese porcelain wares, to ensure they make maximum profits from the business. Different interest groups and the various needs from markets prompted the diversification of the Chinese porcelain in circulation.
This chapter aims to take the Manila Galleon trade of the late Ming period as a study case. By tracing the clues of specific types of Chinese export porcelain wares and their changing combinations in the ship cargoes from time to time, the author will discuss on the moving of their target markets and the dominant power behind.

本書為展覽「填空補白II：考古新發現明正統、景泰、天順御窯瓷器」同名圖錄，全書以彩色精印，中英對照。收錄158件套御窯瓷器標本，均精選自景德鎮御窯博物館珍藏，以2014年景德鎮御窯廠最新考古發現為核心，分為「石破天驚」、「帝王好尚」、「宴饗用器」、「盛世餘緒」、「承前啟後」及「綻放異彩」六個單元，圖版以多角度多細節呈現為特色。此外，圖錄同時收錄研究專文五篇，除景德鎮市陶瓷考古研究所所長江建新教授及香港中文大學文物館助理研究主任（器物） 王冠宇博士力作外，誠邀景德鎮陶瓷大學古陶瓷研究所及景德鎮市陶瓷考古研究所考古及文物修復專家團隊，北京大學考古文博學院博士候選人高憲平先生，以及韓國高麗大學考古美術史學科兼任教授金恩慶博士惠賜洪文。另附正統至天順大事年表、宣德至成化瓷器紋樣對比表、三朝紀年瓷器表、紀年墓出土瓷器表，以及展覽主題演講與學術專題研討會日程及發言摘要等重要資料。
This bilingual catalogue with full colour illustrations is published in conjunction with the exhibition Refilling the Interregnum: Newly Discovered Imperial Porcelains from Zhengtong, Jingtai and Tianshun Reigns (1436-1464) of the Ming Dynasty which features 158 selected items of the latest archaeological discoveries in 2014 from the collection of Jingdezhen Imperial Ware Museum and contains six units, including ‘Grand Masterpieces’, ‘Imperial Amusements’, ‘Tableware’, ‘Remnants of the Glorious Age’, ‘A Period of Transition’, and ‘The Success Story’ with exhibit images in multi-angles and showing much details. Five essays written by experts from the Jingdezhen Ceramics Archaeological Institute, the Jingdezhen Ceramics Institute, Peking University, Korea University and the Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Appendix on major events from the Reigns of Zhengtong to Tianshun, comparison table of porcelain motifs from the Xuande to Chenghua reigns, information on Three-reign period vessels with year marks and Jingdezhen porcelain excavated from Dated Tombs of the Three-reign period and abstracts of opening lecture and symposium are included as well.