A Thousand Years of Stoneware Jars in the the Philippines
by Cynthia O. Valdes, Kerry Nguyen Long, Artemio C. Barbosa
11" x 9", 199 pages, hardbound,
ISBN 971-91329-0-6, 1992.
Large quantities of old Asian jars form part of public and private art and antique collections in the Philippines.
Called storage jars or "martaban" by the connoisseur, they are commonly known as "gusi" or "tapayan" by
native peoples of the Philippines who continue to use them in the hinterland in a ritual context.
Originally fashioned as utilitarian vessels, jars were containers of water, wine, pickled foodstuff, and other
provisions for the ship's crew during the long sea voyages from China to various ports beyond. A keen interest in jars
developed in Southeast Asia and they eventually became trade items in themselves.
In some 2000 pages, we unfold a story that begins with the earliest trade into the islands going back in time
at least a thousand years into the ninth century, when storage jars first came into Philippine shores together with ceramic wares
of the late Tang Dynasty period (618-907).
The book contains a collection of three essays on the subject of stoneware jars: the introduction provides
a comparative picture of jar types found in the Philippines and the restof Southeast Asia; the history and trade essay is an
examination of historical facts relevant to the study of jars as well as trading routes and diverse nationalities involved in this trade
into the archipelago; and the third essay is an ethnographic study of the role of jars in Philippine rituals.
An important contribution to ceramic studies is the section on Typology and Classification which explains how jars may be
grouped according to common significant features, examines characteristics that may provide clues to where they may have originated, and proposes
a suggested date of manufacture based on archaeological data when available, or based on certain stylistic traits ascribable to specific
periods or dynasties.
Cynthia Ongpin Valdes. A collector as well as researcher, writer, and lecturer on the subject of antique oriental ceramics,
she has been a member of the Oriental Ceramic Society of the Philippines for more than ten years, holding various positions on its
Board of Directors including President for two successive terms.
Behind the first two publications of the Society: Guangdong Ceramics from Butuan and other Philippine Sites and
Chinese and Southeast Asian Greenware found in the Philippines, she has lectured on the subject of stoneware jars found in the
Philippines both in Manila and Jakarta.
Kerry Nguyen Long. As an active member of Museum Volunteers and the Oriental Ceramic Society of the Philippines, she has
worked in a number of museums. Re-cataloguing the National Museum Collection of heirloom jars in 1987, she has
since researched and lectured on the subject.
An Australian married to a Vietnamese, Kerry has resided in the Philippines for thirteen years and has a long-standing interest in
the history and culture of Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
Artemio C. Barbosa. Chief of the Ethnology Section, Anthropology Division of the National Museum of the Philippines.
Chief of the Ethnology Section, Anthropology Division of the national Museum of the Philippines.
A recipient of training and study grants from various organizations and foundations as well as
the Spanish and French governments, his writings have been published in scientific and popular journals
both in local and foreign.
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