16/17th cent trade ceramics found in Banten

16/17th Trade Ceramics found in Banten

The Banten Sultanate was founded in the 16th century and centred in Banten, a port city on the northwest coast of Java. Once a great trading centre in Southeast Asia. It was an important port and emporium for spices, silk, Chinese ceramics, gold, jewellery and other Asian goods. Traders from China, India, Turkey, England, Portugal and the Netherlands were frequent visitors to the Banten harbour. The English, who started to sail to the East Indies from around 1600, established a permanent trading post in Banten in 1602 under James Lancaster. In 1603, the first permanent Dutch trading post in Indonesia was established in Banten. The Chinese were active participants in the Banten trade. In Chinese ancient texts such as "明史。外国列传“ and "东西洋考”， Banten was known as Xia Gang "下港“. According to narration by a Dutch, shortly after arrival in Banten in 1596 A.D, he witnessed 5 Chinese Junks also arriving there. He further commented that Chinese Junk, loaded with porcelains, silks and other goods, arrived in Dec riding on the Northeast Monsoon from Zhangzhou and Xiamen. They made the home bound trip in May/June with cargo of pepper and other spices during the Southwest monsoon. Interestingly, in Mrs Adhyatman's book on Zhangzhou ware, there is a Swatow cover box with the Chinese characters "贩下港” written in cobalt blue on the lower portion of the box. Literally it means for sell to Xia Gang. It was found in South Sulawesi and formerly in the Adam Malik collection.

Besides ceramics excavated from the Banten site, shipwrecks provided useful information on types of ceramics that were sourced there. In 1979 a team of French archaeologist located the Banda wreck. It was among the fleet of 4 VOC ships laying at anchor in Flic-en-Flacq harbour, Mauritius on 5/6 March 1615.. They had left Banten on 27 Dec 1614 for Holland. In a violent storm, Banda, Gelderland and Geünieerde Provinciën anchors parted and were sunk. Many pieces of Wanli Kraak blue and white porcelain were recovered.

Wanli blue and white salvaged from the Banda wreck

After conflict with the Dutch over the control of the pepper trade in 1619, the Dutch East India Company took the port of Jayakarta from Banten. Renamed Batavia (now Jakarta) by the Dutch, it became the centre of VOC operation and a serious rival for Banten and subsequently contribued to Banten's decline as an important port. A war broke between Batavia and Banten in the 1670s and 1680s. The result was disastrous for Banten: the VOC gained Bogor and Priangan Highlands (now West Java) and reduced Banten's power substantially, making it a protectorate of the VOC. Although nominally independent, its power was gone. Banten was subsequently annexed to Dutch East Indies in 1813.

Engraving by François Valentijn, Amsterdam, 1726

There is a group of sherds exhibited in the Singapore NUS Museum. They were gathered by Prof. John Miksic from sites in Banten Serang, political centre of the Banten Sultanate. It was then known as Banten Girang, meaning "Banten-up-the-river" owing to its location. Examination of the group of sherds from Jingdezhen and Zhangzhou showed that majority could be dated to the Wanli /Tianqi period, mainly around 1590/1630 A.D. In comparison, those dated earlier to Jiajing or later after Tianqi are fewer in number. It basically reflected the level of trade during various phases and tallied with the general consensus that Banten enjoyed its golden period of trade during the late 16th/early 17th cent.

Ming Wanli/Tianqi Jingdezhen and Zhangzhou blue and white

For comparison, Ming Wanli overglaze cover box from Nanao wreck

More Examples of Ming fragments found at Banten Sirang

Besides the above, sometime around 2004, many fragments also surfaced in the antique market in Jakarta. They were said to be from a site in Banten. Below are some the the Jingdezhen Wanli examples which are of good quality.