One brown glazed and one in blue glaze, both decorated with dragons.

Southern China, 17th/18th century

One brown glazed and one in blue glaze, both decorated with dragons.

H. 56 cm and 58 cm

These large stoneware jars became to be known as martabans (or martavaans in Dutch) because Arab, Indian, Chinese and later European traders purchased them often in the port of Martaban, on the west coast of Burma. Although these jars were primarily made to hold water, wine, edible oils and pickles on long sea-voyages, in Indonesia, particularly on Borneo, some were treated as ancestral sacred vessels in which resided spirits and household gods or they were used to store the bones of the deceased. Martabans were not only made in Southern China but probably also in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodja and the earliest recordings are from the 14th century.