Chinese and Vietnamese porcelains and celadons been recently found in shipwrecks near the edge of former Cochin China, in the Sea of China and in the Philippines.
The team of the "Laboratoire de Dynamique, Interactions et Reactivité" (LADIR- Dynamics, Interactions and Reactivity Laboratory, CNRS-University of Paris 6) has analyzed this proto-porcelain and celadon ware from Southeast Asia.
Southeast Asia, long considered the link between India and China, includes Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines and has cultural ties with Madagascar, Polynesia and Easter Island. Because they live in the same natural environment, the peoples and cultures of this archipelago share many similar traditions.
The most ancient ceramic pieces (< 4000 B.C.) were found in Taiwan, in the Philippines and in Vietnam.
The first Vietnamese ceramic potteries date back to the Hung period (700 BC). Han-Vietnamese pieces range from brown-red to beige-yellow, from gray to white, and their style is very simple, in the Buddhist tradition. Celadon stoneware appeared with political independence, under the Ly (1009-1225) and Trân (1225-1400) dynasties and became very popular in China. Kubilai Khan, the Mongolian emperor, asked that "white porcelain bowls" be included in the tribute owed to him by a Vietnamese prince.
Ly and Trân monochrome ceramics are covered with three types of enamel (ivory, brown, and jade color); they include large jars, bowls, plates, cups, vases, and can be decorated with leaves, flowers, animals, etc.
The microstructure of ceramics contains a great deal of information on the techniques and materials used at the time. Thanks to Raman spectrometry, composition can be analyzed without danger for the object itself.
It appears that Vietnamese ceramics have a relatively high proportion of iron oxide, which explains their color, as well as potassium oxide and especially alumina (>30%) and must be fired at very high temperatures. Raman spectrometry can thus show the difference between the modern copies and ancient
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