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MYANMAR LEGENDARY EARTHENWARE

THE TRADITIONS & CUSTOMS

Pottery, earthenware as well as glazed, is still in common use in households in Myanmar – Burmese households. Most are in the forms of cooking pots, flower pots, drinking water pots and storage pots. Storage pots are mostly glazed and used to store water, oil, fish paste, salt and various pickled food. Drinking water from a river, a well or a bore or from rainfalls is filled into the large water storage pots, especially in the Dry zones (Central Burma). The water settles in the large pot with sediments sinking to the bottom. Then water is usually filtered through a cloth strainer as it goes into the smaller drinking water pot, or just before people drink it, or both. The drinking water pot has a shape pattern which maximizes the surface area. Because it is not glazed, moisture can evaporate slowly from the outside of the pot, taking away heat with it. The water inside the pot is as cool as water from a refrigerator. While people in villages or small farming hamlets in Myanmar may also use some metal pots for cooking, majority still use pottery kitchenware saying that food tastes better if it is cooked in an earthenware pot.

THE ORIGIN

Ceramic Trade 13th-17th century Martaban (Moattama) and Mergui (Myeik), harbors on the coastal region, might have been important links in the ceramic trade between China and India during the Song Dynasty (907-1279 AD), and possible also in the ceramic trade with Southeast Asia through Malacca. Song ceramics have been found in the Tenasserim (Tanintharyi) area and from shipwrecks offshore.

The town of Martaban (Moattama) was first mentioned in an old Burmese inscription of 1326 where it is called ‘Muttama’, the name which until now is often used by the Burmese (Martaban is now named Moattama – webmaster). The name Martaban might be derived from the Tai names for Mergui and Tenasserim, “Marit” and “Tanan”.

THE TRADE

By the middle of the 15th century Ayuthia (Ayutthaya of Thailand) had lost control of Martaban, and the Mon capital of Pegu (now known as Bago) of the Pegu kingdom dominated the ports of Bassein (Pathein), Syriam (Thanlyin) and Martaban which were well known to Chinese merchants by that time. Peguan merchants, mostly Moslems, traded with India, Malacca and Indonesia. That considerable tradings subsisted between the Peguans and Malays before the arrival of the Europeans is testified by the fact that the Portuguese found a considerable number of Peguans settled at Malacca when they captured it in 1511.

BURMESE POTTERY IN PRESENT DAYS

In rural areas of Burma, almost all of the daily containers are of unglazed and glazed earthenware: plastic or cement containers have not yet dominated. Most likely the manufacturing of pottery, their shapes and styles of decoration have not changed much since early times. The Burmese still produce only glazed and unglazed earthenware. In general pottery is an occupation pursued only in dry-weather months when there are no agricultural operations going on, but there are a few traditional pottery centers which manufacture pots the whole-year round. The pottery villages which we have visited are Twante in the south, Sagaing, and Shwe Nyein in the Shwebo region, Upper Burma.

THE MASTERFUL POTTERS

The Shans from the Shari State are considered the best potters and Kengtung and Mongkung are traditional pottery centres. Green glazed ware of a light green colour are still produced there. But the wares from Papun in the Karen State are considered to be the best.

In Pegu (Bago) there are only a few small private kilns which produces only small vases, jarlets and flowerpots. The clay comes from Twante and the glaze from the Shan State. Here they use the yellow slip decoration and it is interesting to note that the decoration of stripes found on the 11th century Pagan sherds is still used on the jarlets of Pegu. Tubular and spur pontils are used for stacking.

Sources: Pottery Center, The Epi Source, Myanmar Pottery Makers.

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This is the very first step of pottery. CLAY is the single main ingredient of pottery in Burma. Thus, this very step is bringing different grades of clay in accordance with the ratio and mixing up to have a homogenous blend… These workers manually step on and off the clay for couples of hours…

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This second step is MOLDING the raw pot. Many potters in Burma still utilize a kickwheel or hand-turned wheel. The potter put a certain amount of RAW CLAY on the kickwheel and try to get the shape she wants by one hand while turning the base by another hand or by feet…

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This particular step is called TRIMMING where the potter uses a wooden paddle to beat the pots to to smooth and make it thinner. A small clay tool called an anvil is held inside the pot so it does not collapse. The anvil is dipped in sand now and again so it does not
stick to the inside of the pot.

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Followed TRIMMING is another detailing step called ENGRAVING. The potter masterfully put the shapes or lines or even flowery engravings using the series of different tools (paddles)…

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DRYING process is just a simple step. The pots are being exposed to the ambient room temperature to occur the dehydration of the moisture in the raw clay…

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The pots are fired in an open area, with wood, grass and possibly old broken pots piled around them… This step can be referred to as FIRING process… It is to make the pots free from WATER and MOISTURE content…

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This final step is called FINISHING or BAKING. Yes, the potters bake the pots inside a kiln. It is a cross-draft kiln, beehive-shaped with a domed roof, made of unfired bricks and mud with a sloping floor. There is no division between the fire and firing chamber. The kiln is supported at each side by a high brick wall and each is protected by a bamboo roof. The baking temperature is probably about 1,000°C.

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