page_title: Belitung shipwreck
section_title: Cargo and "Tang treasure"
hierarchical_section_title: Belitung shipwreck / Cargo and "Tang treasure"
caption_attribution_description: English: Part of the collection of artifacts from the Belitung shipwreck owned by the Sentosa Leisure Group and the Government of Singapore, photographed while displayed at an exhibition called Shipwrecked: Tang Treasures and Monsoon Winds at the ArtScience Museum, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, from 19 February 2011 to 31 July 2011.
context_page_description: The Belitung shipwreck is the wreck of an Arabian dhow which sank en route from Africa to China around 830 CE. The ship completed the outward journey, but sank on the return journey, approximately 1 mile off the coast of Belitung Island, Indonesia. It is unclear why the ship was so far from its expected route back from China. Belitung is to the south-east of the Singapore Strait by 380 miles, and this secondary route is more normal for ships travelling from the Java Sea, which is south of Belitung Island.
  The wreck has given archaeologists two major discoveries: the biggest single collection of Tang dynasty artefacts found in one location, the so-called "Tang Treasure"; and the Arabian dhow, which gives a new insight into the trade routes between China and the Middle East during that period. The treasure has been kept as one collection and, during the excavation, the efforts to preserve the integrity of the site and its cargo have resulted in detailed archaeological evidence. This evidence has given new insight into the construction methods used in shipbuilding, and the items and style of artefacts has revealed previously unknown facts about the trade between the two areas.
context_section_description: The wreck held three main types of "wares" in the form of bowls: Changsha ware (produced in kilns in Tongguan), the majority of the 60,000 items, were originally packed in either straw cylinders or "Dusun" storage jars; White-ware, manufactured in the Ding kilns and including the earliest known intact underglaze blue and white dishes; and Yue ware from Zhejiang Province. One Changsha bowl was inscribed with a date: "16th day of the seventh month of the second year of the Baoli reign", or 826 AD. This was later confirmed by radiocarbon dating of star anise found amongst the wreck. The cargo had a surprising variety of influences and markets, including Buddhist lotus symbols, motifs from Central Asia and Persia, Koranic inscriptions, and green-splashed bowls popular in Iran.
  Included in the cargo were items of varying purposes, from spice jars (martaban) and ewers to inkwells, funeral urns and gilt-silver boxes. The cargo was described by John Guy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as "the richest and largest consignment of early ninth-century southern Chinese gold and ceramics ever discovered in a single hoard." The cargo also included spices and resin, and metal ingots used as ballast. There were also special items found which include a gold cup—the largest Tang dynasty gold cup ever found—and a large silver flask decorated with a pair of ducks. The gold cup has pictures of people in various actions on its sides, such as musicians and a Persian dancer. It also has images of two men on its thumb plate with features that appear to be non-Chinese, as they are depicted with curly hair.
caption: Two oval lobed gold bowls each with two ducks in repoussé among chased flowers
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