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The earliest Chinese ceramics in Europe?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 July 2021

Alejandra Gutiérrez*
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Durham University, UK
Christopher Gerrard
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Durham University, UK
Ran Zhang
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Durham University, UK
Wang Guangyao
Affiliation:
Wang Guangyao, Institute of Archaeology, The Palace Museum, Beijing, P.R. China
*
*Author for correspondence ✉ alejandra.gutierrez@durham.ac.uk
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Abstract

The importation of Chinese porcelain and celadon into Europe has long been thought to have first begun around the thirteenth century AD. A unique group of Chinese ceramic sherds from archaeological contexts in Spain dated to between the ninth and eleventh centuries, however, now represents the earliest Chinese wares identified in Europe. Such an unexpectedly early presence on high-status sites in Western Europe probably reflects changing patterns of commerce in the Indian Ocean and the giving of prestigious gifts at the very highest levels of social and political power across the Islamic Mediterranean world.

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Type
Research Article
Creative Commons
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This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the same Creative Commons licence is included and the original work is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use.
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antiquity Publications Ltd.
Figure 0

Figure 1. Main places mentioned in the text (drawn by A. Gutiérrez).

Figure 1

Figure 2. Porcelain from Almería (1–4) and Valencia (5–6) (drawn by A. Gutiérrez, after Heidenreich (2007: pl. 8)).

Figure 2

Figure 3. Porcelain from Cullera Castle (7–8) and celadon from Zaragoza (10a–b) (drawn by A. Gutiérrez, after Heidenreich (2007: pl. 65); no. 10 photograph by J. Garrido © Museo de Zaragoza).

Figure 3

Figure 4. The reconstructed pattern on the interior of the exquisite celadon from Zaragoza (10). The exterior is similarly carved (drawn by A. Gutiérrez, after Heidenreich (2007: pl. 8); photograph by José Garrido © Museo de Zaragoza).

Figure 4

Figure 5. Celadon from Albarracín (11) and Valencia (12–13) (drawn by A. Gutiérrez, after Ortega (2006: 301) and Heidenreich (2007: pl. 60); no. 11 photograph by Jorge Escudero © Museo de Teruel; no. 12 photograph © Heidenreich (2007: Va 47)).

Figure 5

Figure 6. Porcelain from Almería (1–2), Albarracín (9) and Valencia (14–15) (nos 1–2 © Alcazaba de Almería; no 9 photograph by C. Bazán © Acrótera; nos 14–15 © Sección de Investigación Arqueológica Municipal Valencia).

Figure 6

Figure 7. Distribution of known Chinese wares of the ninth to twelfth centuries AD (drawn by R. Zhang, after Zhang 2016).

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