The Stein Collection thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 137, The Curtain Foundation Gallery

The Stein Collection

Shard
1368-1644 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This fragment originally came from the base of a Ming dynasty (1368-1644) porcelain bowl, decorated with underglaze cobalt blue decoration. The inside bears a scroll design and the outside a floral pattern above stiff leaves as well as rivet holes. This sherd along with many other pottery sherds was found at the ruined walled site of Heishuiguo, near Ganzhou. Ganzhou is the present-day town of Zhangye in Gansu Province and located in centre of the Hexi Corridor, ca. 400 km northwest of the provincial capital of Lanzhou. This corridor was important for the trade along the Silk Road as it tunneled merchants and other travellers to and from central China. The remains of a small military fort as well as of a wall constructed during the Ming dynasty attest to the fact how the Chinese valued this “vein of trade”.

The Victoria and Albert Museum has more than 70 ceramic fragments and fragments of Buddhist sculptures, as well as around 600 ancient and medieval textiles recovered by Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943) during his second expedition (1906-8) into Chinese Central Asia, where he once again visited and excavated sites on the southern Silk Road, before moving eastwards to Dunhuang. At Dunhuang, he studied and excavated the Han-dynasty watchtowers to the north of the town, as well as the Mogao cave temples to the southeast, where he acquired material from the Library Cave. From there he moved on to the northern Silk Road, stopping briefly at Turfan sites but not carrying out any excavations. He made a perilous north-south crossing of the Taklamakan desert in order to hasten to Khotan where he excavated more ancient sites, before finishing off his expedition with surveying in the Kunlun Mountains.


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleThe Stein Collection (named collection)
Materials and techniques
Porcelain, decorated in underglaze cobalt blue
Brief description
Sherd of a porcelain bowl, decorated in underglaze cobalt blue, Ming dynasty, China.
Physical description
Fragment from base of a porcelain bowl, decorated with underglaze cobalt blue decoration. The inside bears a scroll design and the outside a floral pattern above stiff leaves as well as rivet holes.
Dimensions
  • Maximum width: 5cm
Style
Credit line
Stein Loan Collection. On loan from the Government of India and the Archaeological Survey of India. Copyright: Government of India
Object history
Found at the ruined walled site of Heishuiguo (Hei-shui-kuo), near Ganzhou (Kam-chou).
Historical context
Ganzhou lies north of the Nanshan Mountain within present-day Gansu Province, China. To its south lay the Tibetan border. In 111 BC, the Chinese established commands here and at Dunhuang to facilitate trade and political expansion into Central Asia. However, its fertile grazing land made it attractive to nomadic groups and China was repeatedly forced to contend with the Uygurs, Tibetans, Tanguts, Mongols and others for control of the area. The remains of a small military fort and a wall constructed during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD) are located here. When Stein visited the Buddhist temple of Ganzhou, he found colossal Buddha figures described by Marco Polo and other travellers still standing. The V&A holds, on loan, from Ganzhou, a few blue and white porcelain shards from the Ming Dynasty.
Production
from Ganzhou
Subjects depicted
Summary
This fragment originally came from the base of a Ming dynasty (1368-1644) porcelain bowl, decorated with underglaze cobalt blue decoration. The inside bears a scroll design and the outside a floral pattern above stiff leaves as well as rivet holes. This sherd along with many other pottery sherds was found at the ruined walled site of Heishuiguo, near Ganzhou. Ganzhou is the present-day town of Zhangye in Gansu Province and located in centre of the Hexi Corridor, ca. 400 km northwest of the provincial capital of Lanzhou. This corridor was important for the trade along the Silk Road as it tunneled merchants and other travellers to and from central China. The remains of a small military fort as well as of a wall constructed during the Ming dynasty attest to the fact how the Chinese valued this “vein of trade”.

The Victoria and Albert Museum has more than 70 ceramic fragments and fragments of Buddhist sculptures, as well as around 600 ancient and medieval textiles recovered by Sir Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943) during his second expedition (1906-8) into Chinese Central Asia, where he once again visited and excavated sites on the southern Silk Road, before moving eastwards to Dunhuang. At Dunhuang, he studied and excavated the Han-dynasty watchtowers to the north of the town, as well as the Mogao cave temples to the southeast, where he acquired material from the Library Cave. From there he moved on to the northern Silk Road, stopping briefly at Turfan sites but not carrying out any excavations. He made a perilous north-south crossing of the Taklamakan desert in order to hasten to Khotan where he excavated more ancient sites, before finishing off his expedition with surveying in the Kunlun Mountains.
Bibliographic references
  • Stein, Marc Aurel. Serindia: detailed report of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China. Oxford: Clarendon, 1921, vol. 3, p.1135
  • Stein, Marc Aurel. Serindia: detailed report of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China. Oxford: Clarendon, 1921, vol. 4, pl.4
Other number
Kan-chou.0024 - Stein number
Collection
Accession number
LOAN:INDIA.24

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Record createdJune 25, 2007
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