page_title: Tapayan
section_title: Martaban jars
hierarchical_section_title: Tapayan / Trade / Martaban jars
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: Tapayan or tempayan are large wide-mouthed earthenware or stoneware jars found in various Austronesian cultures in island Southeast Asia. Their various functions include fermenting rice, fermenting vinegar or alcoholic beverages, storing food and water, cooking, and burial of the deceased.
  The term tapayan also include the imported martaban stoneware, originally from kilns in Southern China and Indochina. These were used primarily as storage jars for foodstuffs and valuable trade goods during ship voyages, but were highly valued as trade goods themselves. They became heirlooms and symbols of wealth and status among various indigenous cultures in the islands of Southeast Asia.
context_section_description: Martaban glazed stoneware were usually imported. They were originally stoneware made in Southern China from at least the Han dynasty period (206 BCE -  220 CE), but in later centuries also included stoneware made in Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and island Southeast Asia itself by natives and Chinese migrants. The name martaban is from the port city of Martaban (modern Mottama, Myanmar) an important trading port in the Maritime Silk Road. The term martaban is also used in the Near East (and may be the source of the terms for marzipan), but in contrast to Southeast Asian martaban, they referred to Chinese celadon greenware. Vietnamese stoneware were also sometimes distinguished from martaban as guci (also gusi, gusih, guchi, or gutchi) from Giao Chỉ, the old name for northern Vietnam; while Thai stoneware were distinguished as syam, from Siam or Sayam, the old name of Thailand.
  Martaban were used primarily as storage jars for foodstuffs (like grain, wine, candied fruits, and spices) and valuable trade goods (like opium and oils) during ship voyages. But they became highly valued as trade goods themselves by the natives, even more so than the Kraak and Swatow porcelain favored by European traders. The jars (and their contents) were traded to the natives for luxury goods from Southeast Asia like resin, gum, bird's nest, trepang (sea cucumbers), and pearls. Because of their high value, martaban are typically not used for everyday purposes by Austronesian cultures unlike ordinary tapayan.
  Martaban were treated heirlooms and symbols of wealth and status among various indigenous cultures in the islands of Southeast Asia. They were often displayed in the houses of nobles and prominent families. There can be such a profusion of them that the Scottish navigator Thomas Forrester once described the audience room of a datu in Luzon as having the "appearance of a china shop", due to around thirty martaban being displayed prominently in shelves. Among the Iban people of Borneo, the most valuable martaban were equivalent to the value of a male slave. Smashing one accidentally can result in the offender becoming enslaved by the jar's owner, unless they can replace it with a jar of similar value as well as additional compensation.
  Another notable example are the balanga of the Dayak people. Originally from China, they typically had very large mouths and were are somewhat conical in shape. They usually featured dragon designs hence they are sometimes referred to as "dragon jars". They were prized as heirlooms (pusaka or pesaka) and in recent times have become a symbol of "Dayakness".
  Aside from monetary value, martaban also had great spiritual and symbolic value. Inheritance of specific jars can mean inheritance of the social status of the bequeather as well, especially among aristocratic families. They can also be used to seal peace treaties and agreements across different tribes. 
  Some jars have become integrated into native religious ceremonies like marriage rituals, funerals, and ancestor worship. They have also become associated with native myths, especially in connection to the animistic underworld. Some are regarded to have acquired their own "souls" (Filipino anito, Iban antu, etc.) and were anthropomorphized as having characteristics like genders and personal names. Especially the "talking jars" of the Philippines, which could purportedly talk, roam around, and shapeshift. They were even regarded as being "married" to other jars and having "child" jars.
caption: Various 9th century martaban from the Belitung shipwreck of Indonesia
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "SONY DSC", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSLR-A230", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "350", "Image YResolution": "350", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "DSLR-A230 v1.10", "Image DateTime": "2011:06:18 19:07:20", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "390", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 6, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "350", "Thumbnail YResolution": "350", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "40294", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3614", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "2/5", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:06:18 19:07:20", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:06:18 19:07:20", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "8", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "-47/25", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "361/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "18", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3872", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2592", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "31332", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "27", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}