Uses of Folk Pottery

Folk pottery has been used in Southeast Asia for at least 6000 years. Abundant and widespread finds of both surface shards and excavated pieces from the earth and the water substantiate a regional preference for pottery over other materials such as metal or wood. Regardless of the type, a common theme of functionalism is evident in an examination of these pottery finds.

Although historical written information is lacking, archaeological datum indicates that the primary use of pottery in Southeast Asia was for the utilitarian and ritualistic needs of the local population. Pots made for funeral purposes were amongst the earliest uses. Prehistoric burials have yielded an abundance of pottery in this context. Concurrently, earthenware vessels served as containers for the storage and cooking of liquids and foods. Later uses of pottery are depicted in stone carvings on temples at Borobudur (Indonesia) and Angkor (Cambodia), dating between the ninth and twelfth centuries. Gravesite excavations in Indonesia and the phili8ppines reveal that ceramics were used as burial wares again between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Another source for information on the use of locally produced pottery is a comparison of ancient and modern examples. The shapes of many of the vessels are the same, indication that the functions have not changed.

The use and appeal of antique ceramics imported into the region seems timeless. . Chinese wares, particularly celadon and blue and white, continue to be sued in daily life today.

A popular use of antique blue and white ware is for contemporary table settings. A superb example of the timelessness of this ancient ware can bee seen in the dining-room at the celebrated Jim Thompson house in Bangkok, Thailand, where the table is set with blue and white ware.

In Indonesia, antique ceramics are used today in association with magic potions concocted by mediums. Pottery that rings when it is struck is particularly auspicious and a piece with a resonating ring is believed to be powerful enough to summon sprits. Some believe that one particular type of saucer has the power to ward off illness and to strengthen fidelity in partners, providing the right mixture of ingredients is used and the ritual is performed by a special gifted medium. The saucer is small, approximately 15 centimeters in diameter and is white glazed with a distinct grey tone and an unglazed ring around the center. It is decorated with a maroon-colored over glaze in a pattern of alternating crosshatch and floral motifs (pp 17-18 Folk pottery in Southeast Asia).

a. Everyday uses - Ceramic containers for storing and cooking food and liquids have been used throughout history in Southeast Asia. Other shapes, such as plates, were not often produced for use locally because the region has a prevailing tradition of sing other materials, such as shells, baskets, bamboo, and leaves for serving and eating food.

Every kitchen ahs large jars for storing liquids such as water, oil, and rice wine, and medium-sized jars fro picked vegetables and rice. Smaller containers are used for preserved foods such as pepper, lime, mango, sauces, fish paste, condiments, medicines, and cosmetics. Containers are also needed for storing lime paste, and essential ingredient in betel chewing, which is widely practiced amongst the people of Southeast Asia.

A contemporary earthenware pot made in Burma serves a dual purpose. The pot is a container for rose petals and the cover is used for baking fish paste.

Large, oval-shaped brown-glazed ceramic jars are used today by the mountain people in north-eastern Cambodia, the Philippines, and Vietnam for storing a local wine made from honey, sugar, and rice. This is most likely an ancient custom since a relief carved on the Bayon temple at Angkor in Cambodia depicts men drinking through a reed from similar-shaped jars. The rice wine is prepared by placing rice husks and a fermenting agent in the jar and sealing the opening. After fermentation has taken place, water is added and the mixture is converted to wine.

Finds on sunken ships in the Gulf of Thailand include large stoneware jars with miniature glazed pots tightly packed inside. The large jars were ideal storage containers, for although chemical elements of the sea often destroyed the glaze on the exteriors of the storage jar, the small wares packed inside are in pristine condition, protected by the thickly potted, high-fired stoneware jar.

Ceramic containers are widely used for transporting water from a central source. It is a commo0ng sight to see groups of young women in Bali and other parts of rural Indonesia, and in Burma, gathered around a communal well chatting and laughing as they fill their narrow - necked, bulbous - shaped jars with water. They return to their homes varying the jars on top of their heads or suspended from a bamboo pole.

An earthenware bottle is a popular shape used for transporting drinking water to and from the rice fields. The porosity of the earthenware keeps the water cool for a refreshing drunk during the long, hot, hard work in the fields.

An ancient custom retained today in Burma and Thailand, particularly in the north, is to provide drinking water for people walking past one's home or shop. A medium - shaped earthenware jar filled with fresh water, is placed outside as an offering of goodwill for passers - by. A ladle made from a coconut shell with a bamboo handle is used for drinking.

Ceramic mortars and pestles were made by the early Thais and Khmers. A similar shape is made today in Thailand at Ang Sila (formerly known as Ang Hin), a coastal village on the Gulf of Thailand specializing in carving mortars and pestles from a coarse, dark grey stone. Spices, including roots, leaves, and sees, are fundamental ingredients in Southeast Asian cooking and are used in almost all food preparations. Added to other staples, they provide variety in taste and texture. Selected whole seeds are placed in a mortar and beaten to a fine consistency with a pestle. The same utensils and method were used to prepare ointments, perfume, and oils, which are comparable to the use of cosmetics today.

A typical daily meal in agrarian Southeast Asia consists of cooked rice, vegetables, and curry. Rice is a staple food in the diet. Pots for cooking rice are as essential today as in the past. The traditional, medium-sized earthenware vessel with a round bottom is a universal shape. Other vessels are required for cooking fish, vegetables, and curry, as well as for preparing sauces accompanying these dishes.

Various sizes of wide-mouth ceramic jars are needed for washing, in a typical house in rural Southeast Asia; an open wooden platform adjoins the kitchen. Several large stoneware jars filled with water and placed in this area are used for bathing, washing dishes and kitchen utensils, and for cleaning the interior of the house.

Jars and basins are also used as water containers for washing one's feet before entering a house. A basin filled with water is placed on the wooden or concrete platform at the entrance of a rural house. A smaller bowl floating inside is used for scooping water from the large basin.

Based on Khmer finds, it is apparent that one of the major uses of small ceramic pots in ancient times was as containers for lime paste used in betel chewing, which is still a common practice today in Southeast Asia, although less so than in the past. Traces of hardened white or pinkish lime are found on the inside of Khmer pots, particularly animal - shaped ones.

Different types of glazed ceramic weights were made at Sisatchanalia and at northern Thai kilns. A typical form is pear-shaped, covered with a brown glaze although more complex shapes and other glazes are also known. Suggest uses are fish-net and plumb weights.

A chess - like game must have been popular in ancient Thailand as various chess forms paralleling modern shapes have been found at Sisatchanali, Sukhothai, and northern Thailand. Colors are subdued, just as they are today, with light - and - dark colored pieces symbolizing Yin and Yang, the polarities. Counterparts of a knight in the form of a horse, a pawn-like shape, and a possible bishop are known.

b. Religious and ceremonial uses - an early use of pottery in Southeast Asia was for funerary purposes. Earthenware pots were buried with the dead in prehistoric times. At one site in northeastern Thailand, over 123 burials were uncovered. The type and placement of pieces around the bodies seemed utilitarian in some instances, and in others they appeared to have a symbolic purpose. The exact meaning is unknown, but it is clear that pottery used as funerary vessels to accompany the dead into afterlife was a major purpose of pottery in the prehistoric period.

In the Philippines, earthenware jars containing bodies and other jars with just bones dating from prehistoric period have been found in caves. Glazed stoneware jars were used for burying the dead in Indonesia in the historic era but it was not a common practice in Thailand.

Today, blue and white folk pottery is used in a Chinese funeral ceremony.

The religious and ceremonial uses of ancient vessels in Southeast Asia are frequently depicted in relics on ancient temples, although the material is not readily identifiable. It may have been metal, ceramic, stone, or lacquer. However, many shapes in Khmer wares have been found that are the same as those seen on the reliefs. Metal was most likely used originally and pottery as a substitute later, or in less prosperous areas.

Ceramic vessels have been used throughout history in Southeast Asian religious and ceremonial rites. Dominant ritualistic elements are candles, incense, music, dancing, drama, water, and food. Ceramic containers and offertory vessels are essential for the use of these elements. A painting of the Shwedagon pagoda in Rangoon, Burma, shows various ceramic containers in use.

A twentieth - century report on Burma mentions small earthenware dishes used as lights. Kerosene is put in the dish and a cotton wick added. The small laps are placed on the window sills and verandahs of houses in rural Burma on festival days.

The ancient potters at Sisatchanali, in Thailand, produced appealing, hand-modeled animal and human figures for use as votive offerings. Spirit houses, or animistic shrines, are widely used in Thailand today, and probably serve the same purpose as in ancient times. A miniature replica of a rural Thai house usually stands on a post set in the ground and is strategically placed so that the house occupied by humans never casts a shadow on the spirit house. Offerings of figurines, fruit, and flowers are placed on the verandah of the house to appease the evil sprits and encourage them to remain in the spirit house, rather than leave and enter the owner's home.

Figures modeled from clay are used extensively in animistic worship. Spirits for protection, fertility, and ancestors are appeased by rituals. Thai ceramic figures in human form are sacrificed in animistic rites to safeguard a person from danger or misfortune. Interestingly, the figures are nearly always seated. Many of the female figures are holding babies and it is believed these were offered as a sacrifice by pregnant women to ensure a safe delivery and a healthy child. Because so many of these figures have been found with severed heads, decapitation must have been part of the ritual.

A ceramic factory in Singapore uses a brick kiln fired with wood fuel in much the same manner as ancient times. Beside the entrance to the kiln is a small shrine. Throughout the firing, offerings are made to the spirit of the kiln to ensure a successful firing, with minimal damage.

c. Architectural fixtures - Pottery was a primary material used in ancient Southeast Asia for fixtures on temples and other public buildings. Vast quantities of structural materials, such as railings cornices, balustrades, drain pipes, and lattices were needed for the temples. Roof tiles for buildings must have been one of the most extensively made products. The most common type was an unglazed rectangular form which has been found at Khmer and Thai kiln sites. The same shape, with a white celadon glaze, is also common. Besides flat, rectangular roof tiles, figures sculpted in the round were used as decorative fixtures on roof ridges and eaves at Sukhothai.

Glazed tiles were also popular in Vietnam, where blue and white tiles in imaginative and decorative motifs were made.

Temples at Pagan, in Burma, are frequently adorned with tiles. Typical is a row of rectangular, carved tiles surrounding the base of the temple. They depict tales of the lives of Buddha. Many of the tiles are inscribed with a row of characters along the base and were probably used for teaching Buddhism to children.

The Khmers made finials which were most likely used as ornaments and placed at the apex on the roofs of royal buildings. During the Bangkok period in Thailand, when Chinese ceramics were imported in great quantities, the walls of temples were inlayed with pieces of broken glazed porcelain, both blue and white, and enamels. Intricate and artistic arrangements were created. Fine examples of this technique can be seen at the Grand Palace and the Temple of Dawn in Bangkok, Thailand.