-
Details
- Place where the work was made
-
Udon Thani Province
→
North East Thailand
→
Thailand
- Cultural origin
- Ban Chiang culture
- Date
- 200 BCE-200 CE
- Media category
- Ceramic
- Materials used
- earthenware with red painted decoration
- Dimensions
- 20.3 cm
- Credit
- Gift of the Art Gallery Society of New South Wales 1973
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 15.1973
- Copyright
- Artist information
-
Ban Chiang ware
Works in the collection
- Share
-
About
Used as grave goods, Ban Chiang ceramics were discovered in burials along with bronze and iron artefacts and personal adornments such as glass beads. Through what now appears to have been erroneous dating methods, the Ban Chiang bronzes and ceramics were dated to 3600 BCE. This would have meant that bronze technology, and hence civilization, began in Thailand and not in Western Asia as previously thought. Widely publicised in 'Time' magazine in 1976, the pots gained instant fame as proof of the earliest civilization in the world. However, subsequent testing has given an average date of the 2nd century BCE. Similar dates have been given to stylistically related artefacts found at Cambodian and Vietnamese (Dong Son) sites, re-iterating the inter-connectedness of early settlements in mainland Southeast Asia. The black wares are an exception: thermoluminescence testing indicates they are much older, dating to around 1500 BCE.
'Ban Chiang ware', The Asian Collections, AGNSW, 2003, pg.323.
-
Places
Where the work was made
Udon Thani Province
-
Exhibition history
Shown in 2 exhibitions
Thai and Khmer pottery (1973), David Jones' Art Gallery, Sydney, Sydney, 01 May 1973–17 May 1973
Conversations through the Asian collections, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 25 Oct 2014–13 Mar 2016
-
Bibliography
Referenced in 2 publications
-
Robert Haines (Director), Thai and Khmer Sculpture, Sydney, May 1973. Listed as object 14 in the section on Neolithic Pottery from Northeast Thailand
-
Jackie Menzies (Editor), The Asian Collections Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2003, 323 (colour illus.).
-
-
Provenance
David Jones' Art Gallery, Sydney, pre Mar 1973, Sydney/New South Wales/Australia, documented in 'Thai and Khmer Sculpture' exhibition catalogue (May 7-19, 1973) at David Jones' Art Gallery. Purchased prior to the exhibition by the Art Gallery Society of New South Wales for the Art Gallery, Sydney, 1973.