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Jars Of Borneo
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On the Island of Borneo, from the Kalimantan region, situated in the heart of the ancient maritime Silk Road, we deploy a team of locals who go from door to door searching for unique forgotten jars of terra cotta and glazed vases from another epoch and world. We keep them at our central facility there before bringing them to Europe and North America.
The History Of Borneo Jars
In the 9th century, China began to export pottery, which quickly became sought after in maritime Asia and Africa. Much of the ceramic industry was located along China's south and southeast coasts, conveniently located near ports that connected China with international markets. Chinese merchants had to adapt their wares to suit different consumers. During the last 1000 years Chinese ceramics provided an enormous amount of archeological information on trade and society in the lands bordering the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, contributing a major source of data to study the early long-distance commerce, art, technology, urbanisation. and many other topics. Information has been presented from important sites outside China where Chinese ceramics have been found including Borneo, Java, Sulawesi and Sumatra in today's Indonesia.
How did stoneware jars and other antique ceramics find their way into the international art market?
Jars, like other antique Asian export ceramics, survived intact in three ways: in gravesites, in sunken ships, and as heirloom pieces.
In Indonesia and the Philippines countless excavations had been carried out in the past. A number of these excavations were carefully executed, if not according to scientific standards of today. Where these were private and the excavated material of good quality, the wares were normally purchased by dealers serving the antique market in Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok.
Many jars survived from the archipelago as heirloom pieces, particularly in the traditional indigenous cultures on the Indonesian archipelago.
In island Southeast Asia, large stoneware jars originally from China, Thailand, Vietnam and Burma, served functionally as containers in the household, but were also valued as heirlooms, particularly on Borneo and Java, where magical qualities were attributed to jars. Jars were highly appreciated and treated with respect.
During the Japanese occupation Tom Harrisson (Curator of Sarawak Museum, Kuching 1947-1966) was dropped into the Bornean cult of old stone wares and porcelain. From the Kelabits, he first learned to respect, indeed to love the great export ware jars and other artifacts brought to Borneo centuries ago from China... in many ways to become the principal base line for value judgment, taste and status symbolism. The Kelabits loved above all the jars...