Later Ceramics in South-East Asia, Sixteenth to Twentieth Centuries

Book excerpt: This book, a sequel to John S. Guy's Oriental Trade Ceramics in South-East Asia: Ninth to Sixteenth Centuries (1986), describes ceramics made from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries in China, Japan, and Europe, which were brought to South-East Asia as a trade item, first by Chinese andthen by European merchants. The ceramics- mostly bowls and dishes, in accordance with South-East Asian cultural preferences- range from blue-and-white quality porcelain, economy ware, and fine polychrome ware made to order in China, to mass-produced hand-painted and printed earthenware made inEurope. The historical survey of the ceramics, most of which are family heirlooms rather than excavated wares, is generously illustrated by examples from European and South-East Asian collections.