Belitung Shipwreck from early 9th century

If it wasn’t for the high price of sea cucumbers, considered a delicacy in China and Southeast Asia, one of the greatest shipwrecks of the Tang dynasty (which ruled China from 618-907 AD) would still have been undiscovered. In 1998, fishermen diving for sea cucumbers off the coast of Belitung, a small island east of Sumatra in Indonesia, discovered ceramic bowls in the soft sandy sea bed. Realising that these were of value, the fishermen sold the bowls and the location of the find. A German company then obtained the requisite permits to salvage the location and were lucky to find a ship laden with a cargo that was almost intact, albeit covered in coral and marine life. Over the next few months, the contents of the shipwreck were salvaged and put up for sale with the condition that the entire cargo would be sold as a whole rather than piece by piece. After some bargaining, a Singaporean foundation bought the cargo for US$ 32 million in 2005 and is now exhibited at the Asian Civilisations Museum.

$32 million might seem like a high price but the Belitung shipwreck was groundbreaking in two major ways - one, it provided proof of direct trade between China and the middle east as early as the 9CE and second, it brought to light the ingenious ship building technique of Arabian Dhows. Studies are still underway so the shipwreck might still have more mysteries to uncover. 

If you were to look at the exhibits today, you would hardly believe the state they were in when salvaged. Salt water can be very corrosive and being underwater for centuries, the cargo was a host for various marine-life. Immense conservation work had to be done in order to bring this cargo back to its pristine state. After salvaging the cargo, most of it was shipped to New Zealand and stored in a warehouse for conservation. The precious pieces were worked on by an unlikely crew of dentists - a profession in which steady hands are a prerequisite to dealing with delicate materials in confined spaces.

Fig 1: Marine life growing on ceramics

Fig 2: Coral encrusted ceramic jar

Carbon dating of some organic items on board (ship’s timber, shipment of star anise and a small piece of resin) and inferences made by scientists has dated the shipwreck to about 830AD, which would mean that she has been lying mostly undisturbed in the sea-bed for about 1200 years. 830s was the period of the two great empires- the Abbasid Caliphate in western Asia and the Tang dynasty in China. There are writings mentioning trade and diplomatic ties between these empires with their capitals in the cities of Baghdad and Xi’an (of the terracotta warrior fame) as early as 7CE but this shipwreck provided concrete proof of their connection. 

Ships from the middle east have been sailing the waters around Asia and it was evident from the construction of this ship that she was a traditional Arabian dhow. She was built of African wood and the planks were tied together with coconut fibres without the use of nails or screws. Similar technique of ship-building were used in the middle east until very recently. 

Fig 3: Replica of the Belitung Ship, originally 18x6 meters

After the findings from the Belitung shipwreck, Oman, which is strategically located on the western side of the Arabian sea and along the ancient maritime trade routes, embarked on an ambitious project to reconstruct a dhow named ‘Jewel of Muscat’. In 2008, the construction of this new dhow began and it was built to exactly the same specifications as the original dhow from the 9CE. To make things a little interesting, the builders decided to use the same tools that would have been used in the olden days, which meant no power tools or nails could be used in its construction. 

Oman has a long heritage of ship building so they were up for this challenge. Even today, you can visit workshops making wooden ships. A year back, I visited my parents in Muscat, the capital of Oman, we toured a ship building workshop in the city of Sur. A dhow was being constructed that would serve its life as a floating restaurant. I would recommend you to watch an excellent documentary by National Geographic called ‘Jewel of Muscat’ which documents its construction highlighting the challenges that would have been faced by the original ship builders in ancient times. The website dedicated to this ship is jewelofmuscat.tv. 

The Belitung dhow was returning home to the middle east from China and travelling along the popular maritime sailing routes. Scholars believe that she hit a reef and sank in the shallow waters off Belitung - only 2 nautical miles/ 3.7 km offshore in a relatively shallow depth of 17 meters/54 feet. Because of her proximity to the shore, it is believed that the crew were able to swim to safety since no human remains were found. The ship was a modest 18x6 meters but she was laden with jars upon jars of Chinese ceramics estimated to be about 25 metric tonnes. Luckily, the resting place of the ship was a soft-sandy sea bed which prevented the ceramics from damage and of the approximately 70,000 pieces in the cargo, about 60,000 pieces were salvaged.

Fig 4: Mass produced Changsha bowls

The majority of the cargo was cheap, mass produced ceramics called Changsha-ware, named after the kiln region where they were made.  Colours on the ceramics were browns and greens and some reds with floral and animal motifs painted on them. These colourful wares were the preference of the foreign markets since in those days, the Chinese preferred a monochrome palette of whites and pale greens/celadon- colors that mimicked precious jade which they believed to have supernatural powers of healing. Some pieces have Arabic words and Buddhist symbols like the swastika glazed on them. Out of all the thousands of bowls, there was only one that could date the cargo. It has an inscription mentioning ‘a summer’s day in 826’ and since this bowl was not a collectable item, its presumed that the ship sailed a few years after that date. 

Fig 5: Changsha bowl with Buddhist symbols like Swastika

There were a few precious good on board as well, found deep below deck. High quality and imperial grade ceramics along with a handful of exquisite metal objects made of bronze, gold and silver (figures 6-8). These items were highly valued even in the 9CE and from the workmanship, you can tell that these were probably made for very high ranking clients or used as diplomatic gifts. 

 Fig 6: Small dish with a pair of Mandarin ducks - a symbol of marital bliss

 Fig 7: Silver boxes for holding cosmetics or small items

Fig 8: Precious white-ware lidded jar

Many amazing discoveries have been made with this shipwreck but what astounds me most was the ingenuity of China to cater to the global markets. It mass-produced export items that were specific to the tastes of the foreign markets back in the 9th CE. To produce these quantities of ceramics, there had to have been an organised network of people working together, not just locally but also from far away places. It truly was a well-connected world even 1200 years ago.   

Introduction to traditional Chinese landscape paintings

ACM's Scholar's in Chinese culture gallery - courtesy ACM

After months of renovations at Singapore's Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM), two new galleries were unveiled last November- Tang Shipwreck and Scholars in Chinese Culture. Both these galleries contain treasures from China and I was inspired to write about one of the artefacts on display, a painting by Wang Yuanqi (1642-1715) from the early 18th century (figure 1). For this post, I thought of using this masterpiece to give a brief introduction to traditional Chinese landscape painting. I am assuming that you are familiar with the Western classical landscape paintings of this era where art is about realism - a near photographic representation of what you see (think masters like Rembrandt, Vermeer). Landscapes of China are very different from Western both in the medium used and their composition. 

But before I discuss the differences, we need to understand who the Chinese painters were. China has been under imperial rule for over 2200 years, roughly from 220 BCE till 1911 CE when the empire fell. During the days of the empire, people were needed to run the administration over a region that was as vast as Europe. For hundreds of years, imperial civil service exams were held in order to pick the best and the brightest men (women has no place in the administration). Young boys studied for years before they could take these demanding exams which tested proficiency in classical Confucius texts, literature, poetry and calligraphy. Men who succeeded in passing these exams held powerful posts and were the admired scholar-officials or the literati. 

These bureaucrats also indulged in pursuits that were considered the mark of a cultured man like having the ability to write calligraphy, play music and weiqi (a strategy game similar to chess), and also to paint. Luckily for them, the tools required for their everyday duties could also double up for painting. Writing supplies like the Chinese brush, black ink and paper (figure 3) were readily available in their work space and the lines and strokes they had perfected for years on calligraphy could also be used to compose landscapes. Until recently, most paintings were not made by professional ‘artists’ but by scholars.

Chinese landscape paintings are called ‘Shan Shui’ or mountain-water since these are the two basic natural elements depicted. The scenes shown on paintings were not of a real place, rather an imagined location where the forces of nature were in harmony with each other. This idea of harmony comes from Daoism which is an ancient philosophy/religious belief of China. It’s a complicated concept that is out of the scope of this post but I mention it because one of its ideals was ‘man’s quest to achieve harmony with nature’. Scholars tried to portray this imagery by dreaming up idealized and spiritually tranquil places.

Let’s look at the landscape paintings by a renowned scholar-artist Wang Yuanqi dated early 18th century. Figure 1 is in the ACM’s collection, however I was unable to get a good picture of it so have used 2 other paintings by the artist. Figure 3 and 4 are details of the same painting. All three are titled ‘Landscape after Hwang Gongwang’. I will use these paintings to highlight some aspects of Chinese landscape paintings. Interestingly, they are all painted vertically which is quite different from the horizontal format of Western landscapes.

Figure 1 - Landscape by Wang Yuanqi (ACM collection)

Figure 2: Landscape by Wang Yuanqi (courtesy Sotheby's)

These paintings show a tranquil landscape of mountains, boulders, trees and a few man-made structures harmoniously balanced. The colors are monochromes or with a very limited palette that are painted on rice paper. Each object is outlined with a sharp brush point and filled in with varying shades of greys. Black ink is the main medium used for paintings and tones of grey are achieved by adding the desired amount of water to the ink. The skill of the artist is really tested in making such compositions since rice paper is highly absorbent and therefore an unforgiving material. The paper demands precision in the pressure applied when making lines and strokes since a single mistake can cause blotting and ruin the paper. 

Thin sheets of paper or silk (another material used for paintings) are then mounted onto a hanging scroll to provide a thick backing. Scrolls lend themselves perfectly to appreciating works of art since paintings are generally not meant to be viewed continuously but rather from time to time, and scrolls can be easily be rolled up for storage. Every time the scroll is unfurled, the viewer may discover new details, allowing them to fall in love with the painting all over again. 

Figure 3: Top half of painting by Wang Yuanqi showing inscriptions

Figure 4: Bottom half of painting by Wang Yuanqi

What immediately stands out in terms of the composition is the use of blank spaces in this finished work. This is unheard of in Western art where every inch of the canvas is covered with paint. Chinese artist intentionally leave parts of the paper untouched so as to visually balance the painting - the filled in parts are balanced with the blank parts. This also allows the viewer to use their imagination to fill in these space, but of course with a hint of suggestion. Take another look at figure 4, you don’t see water or sky, it is just empty. What do you think the blank space represents? The ‘C’ shaped void starting from the base of the mountain coming towards the viewer is most probably a water body - a lake or a river, which you can infer from the shoreline and the little bridge spanning a narrow stretch of water. What you don’t see are waves or a boat since these images would be too obvious a suggestion. Another element that is missing is the sky or clouds. It is not painted in but the viewer knows of its existence.

Chinese art has a long tradition of copying from the masters as it's a way of paying a compliment and showing respect. Originality was not a virtue that artist strived for, preferring to make imitations, albeit not exact copies, of masterpieces by following the conventions, methods and styles used centuries before. The paintings seen here are made in the style of a master artist named Huang Gongwang (1269-1354) from the thirteenth century who lived about four hundred years before these paintings were made. The artist has choose to use the old master’s style as inspiration for these scenes. We know this from inscriptions by the artist who is praising the skill of the master (figure 3). This is a very common practice for artists to pen down their thoughts oftentimes describing the painting.

In addition to the writings by the artist, Chinese paintings allow admirers and friends to put their thoughts either as poetry or prose alongside works of arts they appreciate or collect. On the scroll in figure 1, there are three additional pieces of paper pasted around the landscape. These colophons have been written by admirers or collectors of this painting and they are showering praises on the skills of the old master Huang Gongwang. Curiously, there is no mention of Wang Yuanqi, the painter of this painting but by associating their words with this painting, they are indirectly praising him as well. 

The final act of completing the painting is to ‘put your stamp’ on the piece of art and this is literally what Chinese artists do, they use personally hand-carved seals as their signature. In figure 5, you can see four red seals (the red is from cinnabar paste). Seals don’t necessarily have to contain the name of the artist but some can also be words or quotes that represent the artist’s mindset. 

I have introduced basic aspects of traditional Chinese landscapes without going into much detail. I hope you have gained a little insight into how to appreciate these and get lost in their beautiful make-belief world.