Anping jar

[Bok]

Dear all,

In this post a rather crude but interesting item I have found on an antique market in Taiwan.
These jars are called ?Anping jars?, named after the harbour district in the southern city of Tainan.

It used to be the capital of Taiwan and the main settlement of Chinese in Taiwan. Taken over after bloody battles from the Dutch who established this outpost first, it was the base of notorious Chinese rebel, or pirate depending on who you ask, Koxinga. He spend his life trying to fight the Qing invaders and restore the Ming dynasty from his bases in Fujian and Taiwan.

Long story short, the Qing won and continued the settlement in Tainan and a fortress in Anping, with a heavy military presence to deter the native tribes of the inland and the various Hakka and other Chinese clans.

The Anping jar dates from this period and is actually a grenade, which explains the crude appearance.
They were made in kilns in Fujian, not locally in Taiwan. They are still commonly found in the south of Taiwan and have recently become a favorite with local tea afficionados to store their leaves in them. The particular thick walls work especially well to deliver a more stable temperature and seal for humidity.

They can be found with glazed and unglazed interiors. The one I acquired is glazed inside.
Not an elegant item per se, but it has a certain wabi sabi quality to it in my oppinion.

[Bok]

The shop owner had a different opinion on the use of those jars, he said they were medecine jars.
The crudeness of them makes me doubt that though? the grenade story seems to make more sense, especially as they are only found in that former military district in Anping.

[Bok]

More details

[peterp]

Good find. Ming dynasty storage jar. This is one of the three or four typical shapes I know.
The purpose of these jars used by the Dutch is still not determined for sure by local researchers in Tainan. Some sources say they were used for transporting plant seeds, others say they were used for storing gun powder. Personally I think that as is often the case with storage jars, they may have served various different purposes.
I have never heard the version of them being used for throwing, but it is not impossible. However, I doubt that some of the larger ones would be suitable for that, due to their size. They are at least double the height of the smaller ones (yours is one of the small ones). The small ones are more difficult to get by.

To me it seems plausible that they were made with such a wide top rim to allow stacking several layers of jarts on ships, possibly serving as ship ballast.

> favorite with local tea afficionados

Really? I would not drink tea from such a tea caddy... at least not without an inner lining.
Many were imported in more recent years from the mainland, as local supply probably was insufficient. I have heard disturbing things of some having been used as burial ware in China.

[Bok]

More information on those jars can be found here (in french), as well as images of examples from a museum in Tainan:
teamasters.blogspot.tw/2012/08/jarre-anping.html

[peterp]

Thanks, just found the page after you mentioned the use as tea caddy. Anyway, you never know what it contained in the old times. To me there is a limit as to what I use.  :-)

[Bok]

> Really? I would not drink tea from such a tea caddy... at least not without an inner lining.
Many were imported in more recent years from the mainland, as local supply probably was insufficient. I have heard disturbing things of some having been used as burial ware in China. <

That sounds indeed disturbing!

That was a misunderstanding they do not use them for drinking of them directly.
What they do is to store tea in them, either for the short term, to allow the leaves to rest and open up before brewing, or for the long term to age tea. In the latter case they jars are sealed.

The stacking theory seems very plausible to me.
In regards to ballast I know that at least during the Qing dynasty large stone squares were also used.
The ships came empty (of ware) to Taiwan and the stones were then used to construct basements for houses in Taiwan.
There is a very old mansion in Taipei?s Spice Market where one can still see them.
It is an old teashop still owned by the same family. Very interesting, they even have some sort of closet-counter with a tiny slid where coins where inserted. A cashier furniture!

[Bok]

The shop had two more of them, similar size.
I stayed away from them as both were unglazed and one was even partly filled with earth or clay?

[peterp]

I have about ten, bought early when I started collecting. They range from the smallest to the the second largest I have seen. The largest slipped away. I would only buy one now if it were one of the smallest or largest ones, because they are not that plenty. Just be careful, they seem to sell fakes too nowadays.