Thai Ceramics

The James and Elaine Connell Collection of Thai ceramics is one of the most comprehensive public collections of its kind in the United States. Donated to the Asian Art Museum in 1989 and 1990, it comprises 183 pieces ranging from miniatures to large architectural objects. The holdings date from the second millennium BC to the seventeenth century, and include objects from all known major kiln sites of Thailand. While most collections of Thai ceramics outside Thailand are composed solely of trade wares, the Connell Collection is exceptional for the inclusion of ceramics made for domestic use, as well as for objects produced at northern kiln sites. Until the twentieth century, ceramics produced in Thailand between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries were thought to be products of Chinese kilns. This view changed with the discovery of kilns in North and Central Thailand, and for the past fifty years Western scholars have sought to correctly attribute the works. Recent excavations of shipwrecks and burial sites in South-East Asia have provided contexts for refining the dating of materials and for determining the function of Thai ceramics in Asian society. This book is published in conjunction with the exhibition of the James and Elaine Connell Collection at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco in late 1993. In addition to catalogue entries written by Nancy Tingley, it contains scholarly contributions by John Guy, John Shaw, and Louise Allison Cort on recent archaeological research at the Thai kiln sites, the role of Thai ceramics in maritime trade, and Japanese evidence concerning the dispersal and chronology of Thai ceramics.

This book is being published in conjunction with an exhibition of the James and Elaine Connell Collection of Thai ceramics at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco in late 1993. In addition to catalogue entries written by Nancy Tingley, it contains scholarly contributions by John Guy, John Shaw, and Louise Allison Cort on recent archaeological research at the Thai kiln sites, the role of Thai ceramics in maritime trade, and Japanese evidence concerning the dispersal and chronology of Thai ceramics.