Chinese Echoes

Abstract

This paper presents a single artefact, a base sherd from a storage jar. The pot is dark grey stoneware with a thick, light grey-green celadon glaze. The inside is slipcovered with a thin layer of beige-brown clay and has distinct turning marks. The original theory was that this might be Chinese Dusun Ware, a type of storage jars which were widely exported from East Asia to the Middle East during the 8th–10th Centuries CE. Such an artefact would have been sensational to find as far north as Oslo, Norway, although the sturdy pots were widely reused and have been known to travel to North-Western Europe. To check its provenance, ICP analyses were carried out – and thus a completely different story could be written, one of Western Europeans copying the much sought-after East Asian pottery in the Late Medieval and Renaissance periods. So how did this convincing Chinese copy arrive in Oslo, who could have brought it, and when did it arrive on these shores? Importantly, what can a Chinese copy tell us about relations and connections between Europe and China? We were intrigued, and wonder how many other examples of this may be found in the Nordic countries?