Sometime around 830-840 AD a
merchant ship set sail, most likely from the Chinese port of Yangzhou, or
perhaps from Guangzhou further south, following a well established maritime
trade route through southeast Asia, via Java, towards the Arabian Gulf, where
it was probably heading towards Basra, then the principal port of the Abbasid
Caliphate, in modern day Iraq. The ship was carrying a large cargo of ceramics
– some 70,000 pieces were tightly packed inside its hold, along with other,
more precious goods such as finely crafted items of gold and silver, plus 29
bronze mirrors, as well as more perishable commodities, such as spices and probably
textiles too (silk was certainly used as a currency at this time). However, the
ship never reached its intended destination, as it was wrecked en route in the Java Sea, some 600 km
south of Singapore.
The wreck was discovered in 1998,
not far from the Indonesian island of Belitung, by fishermen diving for sea
cucumbers. Given that the wreck was located in shallow waters and less than 3
kms from the shore it was very vulnerable to looting and accidental
destruction, consequently the Indonesian government authorised a salvage
company to recover the 9th century ship’s cargo. This recovery
operation took place over two seasons. The importance of the wreck, despite its
having been subject to commercial salvage rather than a more scientific
programme of archaeological excavation, was noted and hence, in order to
preserve the assemblage as a whole, the cargo was purchased by Singapore with
the purpose of making it available to the peoples of the wider Southeast Asia
region in a public museum. Accordingly, the contents of the wreck were first
put on temporary display at Singapore’s Art Science Museum in 2011 (you can read
an interesting and thought-provoking review of that exhibition, and the
controversial issues surrounding the original acquisition of the wreck’s
contents, by Rachel Leow on her blog here and here). Now, nearly five years
later the Belitung shipwreck has at last found its final berth in a new permanent gallery at Singapore’s excellent Asian Civilisations Museum. This new
display was opened to the public last month by Ms Grace Fu, Singapore’s
Minister for Culture, Community and Youth. I was lucky enough to be invited to
the opening ceremony.
For anyone visiting Singapore who
has an interest in art and archaeology, the Asian Civilisations Museum is a
must-visit site. Built in 1865 the Neoclassical building, which originally
housed the offices of the British colonial government, has recently been
undergoing a transformation. Last month saw the opening of the first of the
Museum’s “New Spaces” with the T’ang Shipwreck gallery as its centrepiece. The
shipwreck is clearly being showcased as an important marker for modern
Singapore’s 50th anniversary celebrations. As one of the texts
accompanying the display attests: “Singapore
lies between two oceans, along a busy sea route running from the Middle East to
India, Southeast Asia, and China. This network rivalled the more famous Silk
Route through Central Asia. Glass was brought from the Middle East, cotton from
India, spices and wood from Southeast Asia, and ceramics and silk from China.
These economic ties led to the exchange of artistic ideas, and to contacts
between peoples of different cultures.
The Tang Shipwreck reveals that
Singapore’s region lay at the heart of a global trading network in the 9th
century. The success of Singapore as an exchange point of global shipping thus
has ancient roots. The beautiful objects of exceptional rarity testify to the
ingenuity of artists and merchants, and show that exotic objects have long been
appreciated by the world’s consumers.”
Paeans to ancient precursors of
modern consumerism and political agendas aside (see here for a recent article on maritime archaeology and modern day nationalism), the actual analysis of the
antiquities recovered from the Belitung shipwreck has revealed some fascinating
information. It is claimed that “not a
single nail or dowel was used to construct the ship,” instead it was made
from wooden planks which had been sewn together with rope made from coconut
husks and caulked with wadding and lime. Scientific tests have shown that the
wood came from Africa, and that later repairs were made in a variety of
materials sourced from other far distant places, such as India and parts of
Southeast Asia. All this suggests that the ship was a dhow, plying a trade route of immense distance from the Arabian
Gulf to China, returning with a cargo which gives us a window onto the
commercial web which networked the Abbasid and Chinese Empires together, most
likely via the maritime hub of Palembang, the capital of Srivijaya in Sumatra
(Java) – arguably the Singapore of its day.
The ship’s cargo attests to the
almost industrial scale of output from certain Chinese kilns of the period,
particularly that of Changsha in Hunan province, of which, some 57,500 pieces
have been recovered from the Belitung wreck. Plus highly prized celadon wares,
green-splashed wares from the Gongxian kilns of Henan, and beautiful
white-glazed wares from the Xing kilns of northern China, all of which have
also been discovered at other sites in Asia and the Islamic Middle East. Many
of these ceramics were packed into larger ceramic vessels, tightly coiled and padded
out with straw, these jars contained up to 130 bowls each. This method of
packing was highly successful and undoubtedly also ensured that many of the
ceramics remained preserved intact on the seabed. In total the ceramics from
the ship weighed around 25 tons.
Many of these bowls are now on open
display in the gallery, but why they have been mounted on long metal stems
making them look like a large abstract field of poppies, or so many plates
spinning on poles, is a modern design mystery which no one I asked could
fathom. Thankfully the displays and accompanying texts give adequate context
and explanation. The spacious gallery is light and airy with large windows
looking out, rather appropriately, onto the waters of nearby Boat Quay, where
on my first visit I saw dragon boat races being held. I’m told that once all
the redevelopments are complete this area will become the new entrance to the
Museum, hence the T’ang shipwreck will be the first gallery the visitor
encounters.
The rest of the Museum is filled
with a wonderful array of artefacts from many different cultures and wide-ranging
regions across Asia. The sculptures of the Ancient Religions room,
including several pieces from the ancient cultural crossroads at Gandhara (in
modern day Pakistan), such as the magnificent monumental terracotta head of a bodhisattva
with a mass of curly hair, are not to be missed. Plus, the two Southeast Asia
rooms are crammed with such a variety of fascinating treasures that I became
completely engrossed and lost all track of time. The room dedicated to the
“Chinese Scholar” is an exquisitely evocative new addition to the Museum too.
I’m looking forward to returning next summer to see what other transformations
will have taken place by that time.
Wow! M.
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