Khmer Ceramics

Khmer Ceramics Around the 7th-8th centuries Khmer art began to spread to northeastern Thailand. This had a great influence on the art in that area. Later on, around the 10th-13th centuries, from the reigns of King Rajendravarman II to King Jayavarman VII, Khmer political power spread to central Thailand and caused the art of that area also to be influenced by Khmer art. In addition, many Khmer people came to reside in central Thailand. This situation led to the building of numerous architectural monuments reflecting Khmer art and the construction of kilns producing ceramic ware for use by Khmer communities in those areas. The earliest Khmer ceramic production center is the Phnom Kulen kilns in Cambodia. Surveys by the Fine Arts Department in northeastern Thailand have led to the discovery of more Khmer kilns scattered in different areas of Buri Ram province. They are especially plentiful in Laharn Sai and Ban Kruat districts. These kilns seem to have produced ceramic ware mostly about the early 11th century, when the Khmer kingdom become extremely powerful in this region, but discontinued production in the middle of the 13th century during which period the Khmer kingdom rapidly declined, although there is no convincing evidence yet for their beginning and end dates of production.
Four main types of Khmer ceramics were produced in Buri Ram province: unglazed, green-glazed, white-glazed and brown-glazed ware. Common shapes include large jars, covered jars, bowls, bottles, jarlets and architectural fixtures such as roof tiles, antefix tiles and ridge-end finials, etc. Some lime pots were made in the shape of zoomorphic figurines. The decoration includes geometric, wavy, and pepper-corn shape designs. Bands of spots, either incised or added as appliqué buttons, are common around the shoulder. The typical base of these ware is plain, flat and slightly concave. Some bases have fingerprint-like traces indicating that the body was cut from a potter's wheel, but some have a short footrim. A fine-grained yellowish-white clay body was often used to make miniature products like jarlets and covered boxes, while a coarse brown clay was employed in the large products, such as oval-shaped jars. From a comparison of the forms and techniques of production of Khmer and Chinese ceramics, it is obvious that these two groups are closely related, especially with respect to the form of the green-glazed ware from the Yüyao, Ningbo and Wenzhou kilns in Zhejiang province, the white-glazed ware from the Xicun, Qishi and Chaozhou kilns in Guangdong province, the Jingdezhen kilns in Jiangxi province, the Nan'an kilns in Fujian province and the Dingzhou kilns in Hebei province and the brown-glazed ware from the Cizao and Jianyang kilns in Fujian province. Click here to read more Click here to see Khmer Ceramics Gallery