-
Details
- Other Title
- Large tazza
- Place where the work was made
-
Thailand
- Period
- Rama II Period 1809 - 1824 → Thailand
- Date
- early 19th century
- Media category
- Ceramic
- Materials used
- porcelain with enamel decoration
- Dimensions
- 10.0 x 28.0 cm
- Credit
- Gift of Mr F Storch 1981
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 316.1981
- Copyright
- Artist information
-
Bencharong ware
Works in the collection
- Share
-
About
Bencharong ware is a polychrome porcelain made in the city of Jingdezhen (the porcelain capital of China) and richly decorated to Thai tastes with bright enamel glazes. It is thought that Buddhist books and paintings were supplied as references and sent to Guangzhou merchants, who acted as intermediaries to the Chinese potters and decorators for foreign orders. As with Western orders, new, alien ceramic shapes were communicated by maquettes in wood or perhaps metal. While the name derives from the sanskrit words ‘pancha’ and ‘ranga’ meaning five colours, Bencharong wares can also be found with as little as three and as many as eight colours.
Bencharong wares were first commissioned by the Thai kings of Ayutthaya in the 18th century during a peaceful period of rule that was congenial to picnics and tours and where Bencharong wares could be used to store and serve food. After the fall of Auutthaya to the Burmese in 1767 Bencharong wares became more widely used and Lain Nam Thong wares superseded them as the exclusive wares of royalty.
Asian Art Department, AGNSW, Dec 2015
-
Places
Where the work was made
Thailand
-
Exhibition history
Shown in 3 exhibitions
Treasure ships: Art in the age of spices, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 13 Jun 2015–30 Aug 2015
Treasure ships: Art in the age of spices, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, 09 Oct 2015–31 Jan 2016
The Way We Eat, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 03 Apr 2021–13 Jun 2022
Open Studio (brick vase clay cup jug), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 01 Jul 2023–07 Jan 2024
-
Bibliography
Referenced in 3 publications
-
James Bennet and Russell Kelty, Treasure Ships. Art in the Age of Spices, Adelaide, 2015, 316, 285 (colour illus.). cat. no. 78
-
Professor Philip Courtenay, Carter's Antiques and Collectables, 'Thai Bencharong wares', pg. 18-19, Sydney, 2000, 7, 18, 19 (colour illus.).
-
Jackie Menzies (Editor), The Asian Collections Art Gallery of New South Wales, 'Export Ceramics', Sydney, 2003, 143 (colour illus.).
-
-
Provenance
Fred Storch, pre Nov 1981, Sydney/New South Wales/Australia, donated to the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Nov 1981.