Sangkhalok ceramic ware
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Sangkhalok ceramic wares (Thai: สังคโลก) are a Thai glazed stoneware of the Sukhothai kingdom period. They carry traditional motifs and were fired at 1,150 to 1,280 °C, and the forms include pots, jars, teapots, spoons and figurines. The ancient kilns around Si Satchanalai district in Sukhothai province place the manufacture between the start of the Sukhothai period in 1238 and the end of the Ayutthaya kingdom in 1767.[1][2]
History
The age of Sangkhalok ware has been judged from wrecks and comparanda. It was found with Chinese green ware of the Yuan dynasty in the Rang Kwian wreck in the Gulf of Thailand, and has been compared with Chinese Ming wares found in the Philippines. Production is placed from the Sukhothai period onward and was expanded during the Ayutthaya period. It declined from the 17th century, as Chinese kilns returned to blue-and-white porcelain, which took the trade, and Ayutthaya could not meet the demand of the Western powers then influential in the region.[3][4]
Leedom Lefferts and Louise Allison Cort place the Si Satchanalai kilns in a wider context of village stoneware production across mainland Southeast Asia. On their account the ordinary activity of the kilns serving a Tai mueang was the making of utilitarian jars for local and regional use, and the glazed decorated wares made at Si Satchanalai for export are exceptional rather than typical. They follow a hypothesis of Hiram Woodward's in attributing the change to Chinese merchant middlemen based in Ayutthaya, and argue that the prominence of Si Satchanalai has given a misleading impression of stoneware in the region as a whole.[5]: 315
Terminology
The term Sangkhalok is assumed from different source. Some of that comes from the word "Song kolok" means stove envelope. Some say those come from the word "Sankoroku" in Japanese, which might came from the word “Sawankhalok”. That was a popular name in city of Si satchanalai in Thai history. The original meaning limited in area of Si satchanalai and the relationship city like Ayuthaya referent from founding many stove manufacturers in this area. However furnace manufacturers in northern Thailand has produced many of the category called Sangkhalok as well.[6]
Feature
The pottery is made in very fine ceramic and glazed signature Kai Ka color (ไข่กา, green olive colour. Literally translated to Crow's egg), and a grain ivory stripes. The evolution of coated green exquisite pottery making has named Green as "Celadon" which painted a different color, such as green olives.[7]
Category
The pattern of Sangkhalok ware is divided into many different types due many techniques of manufacturing, such as;[8]
- Strong unglazed ware, decorated with motifs pressed from a mould and applied before firing, possibly the earliest technique and continued afterwards.
- Dark brown glazed ware, similar in character and colour to the brown glazed wares of Lopburi
- White glazed ware with motifs drawn in brown under the glaze, compared with Chinese Shu Jol ware
- White glazed ware with motifs drawn over the glaze in golden brown
- Strong unglazed half-stoneware, dipped in slip and painted with red motifs
- The green glazed pottery or the Celadon, decorated by draw chamfer into the surface then glazed and fired
Manufacturing
Location
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The manufacturing places are usually found located in Si Satchanalai district in Sukhothai province, the area was once called the "Si Satchanalai kiln area" as evidence of ancient kilns were found scattered through the area.[9][10][2]
Material
The main material for manufacturing the Sangkhalok ware is clay from the local area around the kiln area, probably the alluvial deposit of the Yom River.[2]
Molding
The process of creating the primary shape of the pottery is usually done by a high-skilled craftsman with a lot of training experience. The primary tool of this kind of potter is bare hands for creating the desired shape. The method popular among the current craftsman is to mold on a spinning wheel for symmetry. For easier molding, the craftsman always uses water to keep the work wet to soften the clay and to obtain a smooth surface. Other tools to assist molding are a cutting wire and trowel.[11]
Coloring
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Motifs that appear in Sangkhalok ware are specific patterns. For dishes and bowls, these are usually fish, flowers and wheels, the fish are usually assumed to be a Black sharkminnow. The hand-drawing style is very distinguished and identical to the local cultural artistic style. The coloring is usually achieved by dipping in or blushing with color made of powder that when burned at a particular temperature will set the desired color.
Firing
The piece is fired to 1260°C in a low-oxygen environment in a type of kiln called Thu-riang (Thai: ทุเรียง).[2][12]
Kilns and workshops
Excavation has recorded the kiln fields in detail. Sixty-one kilns have been found beside the moat of Wat Phra Phai Luang at Sukhothai, eleven of cross-draft and fifty of up-draft type, with two clay-mixing basins.[13]: 173–175 At Si Satchanalai 186 kilns have been recorded on the Yom, and one of the three types there, cut into the ground and lined with slabs, is found at Si Satchanalai but not at Sukhothai.[14]: 197, 203
Two tubular kiln supports from Tao Thuriang carry Sukhothai letters read as thondu, probably a personal name. Potters' marks appear on disc supports, and three temples stand within the kiln field, which Thongchai Sako reads as at least two groups of potters with ritual places of their own.[13]: 177, 185 Architectural ceramics – white-glazed roof tile, antefix, finial, makara and lion – come from one kiln alone, numbered 14.[13]: 179 Ornament of that kind is found in monasteries of the Sukhothai and Ayutthaya kingdoms but not abroad.[14]: 203 The extra-large plate of 26 to 32 cm occurs in no shipwreck, while the plate of 21 to 24 cm does.[13]: 177
Gallery
Bowl with incised peony designs, Sri Satchanalai, 15th century
Bottle with two shoulder lugs, Sawankhalok, 15th century
