Ming Jiajing Belanakan (Blanakan) wreck

On 5 May 2010,The Jakarta Post reported the recovery of over 12,400 items of Chinese ceramics from a ship wreck about 50 km from Belanakan in Subang, West Java. They were believed to originate from the Ming dynasty era. The ship was about 50 m x 20 m and lies 58 meters under the surface of Java Sea. The blue and white wares consisted of plates, bowls, jars and vases . About 40 percent of the recovered items are still in good condition.

According to the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry's director general for surveillance and control, Aji Sularso, he said that : ""Given the large size of the cargo, we predict that we need to dive for a year to secure all of its precious loads, which may amount to 1 million pieces; larger than the number of items secured from the shipwreck in Cirebon ...... It is predicted to be a cargo ship sunken somewhere in 1,600s... Archaeologists believe, from the blue motives of the white ceramics, that they originate from the Ming dynasty,"

From what I have gathered so far, the exact number of ceramics is not clear but at least more than 350.000 pieces. Some of the pieces have also appeared in the Jakarta antique market. I have seen some broken jars with birds and floral motif similar to the below piece.

Two Ming shipwrecks with confirmed sunken dates are particularly useful and instructive for dating the Jingdezhen blue and white wares from the Belanakan wreck. The Ming Jiajing San Sebastian wreck, situated near the sea in Fort San Sebastian in Moçambique was dated to 1554 A.D. The Ming Wanli San Diego wreck, situated near the Fortune island in Batangas province in the Philippines was dated to 1600 A.D. Overall, we can see that the colour tone of the cobalt has changed. Those from the San Sebastian wreck show a purplish blue or more grayish purplish blue tone. By 1600 A.D, the overall colour tone is generally a more silvery or grayish blue. In terms of the colour tone, those from the Belanakan wreck are more akin to those from the San Sebastian wreck. Stylistically, the motifs found on the blue and white wares on the Belanakan wreck are also more similar to those from the San Sebastian wreck. So far, no Ming Wanli kraak style blue and white wares has been found in the Belanakan wreck. Hence, the Belanakan wreck can be dated to the 2nd half of 16th Century and very likely towards the transition from late Jiajing/Longqing period.


Examples from San Sebastian wreck	Examples from the San Diego wreck





Examples from the Belanakan wreck

In the wreck, there are also some big blue and white plates, bowls, jarlets and vases with floral decoration executed in calligraphic style. They are likely among the earliest known examples of Swatow (Zhangzhou) wares. There are two other wrecks which carried early Zhangzhou blue and white with the characteristic decoration executed in bold calligraphic strokes. The San Isidro wreck was found in Philippines water and Ko Kradat near Thailand. There was no Jingdezhen blue and white in the San Isidro cargo but like the Ko Kradat wreck, there are Thai Sawankhalok iron-black painted wares. I have recently written another article to forward reasons to date the these few wrecks to late Jiajing. Please read this article.

Another wreck, San Jaunillo wreck sank near Enzenada, Baja California in 1578 A.D. ie 6th year of Ming Wanli period. Although it is likely around 10-20 years later, it is still interesting to note the similarity in the composition for the big plates. The band near the rim is filled with vegetal scroll executed in bold calligraphic strokes. Although they are likely inspired and copied from Jingdezhen example, the latter is executed using the outline and wash method. This fact is well substantiated by the large amount of Jingdezhen ware from this wreck which were decorated using the outline and wash technique. Zhangzhou potters switched to the outline and wash decorative technique subsequently. Those from the Vietnam Binh Thuan cargo, dating to around 1600- 1620 A.D, were executed in that style. However, it should be noted that small number in the calligraphic style continued to be produced as can be substantiated by the San Diego wreck of 1600 A.D.

Yuegang situated near Zhangzhou was a well-known port where Chinese ceramics were smuggled overseas since the Mid Ming period. During the first year of Longqing (1567 A.D), the Ming Ming court finally lifted the ban on foreign trade. So far, archaeologial findings have not been able to positively identify the earliest date of production of Zhangzhou blue and white ware. However, looking at it from the historical development, with the lifting of ban, the condition was right for the Zhangzhou potters to seize the opportunity to produce their own line of blue and white for export.