アフリカに渡った伊万里

Abstract

A large amount of ceramics of East Asia and Southeast Asia were carried around the Indian Ocean from the Middle Ages. Many Chinese porcelain have been found in the surrounding area of the Red Sea and in the east Africa coast. And Imari ware were carried around the Indian Ocean from the second half of the 17th century, and they were also found in Africa. There were many merchant ships that transported Imari ware to Africa; the Dutch East Indian Company ships exported Imari ware from Nagasaki to their warehouses in Asia and transported to Netherlands by way of Cape Town. Several shards of Imari ware were found in Cape Town and Mauritius, in where the Dutch built her bases. On the other hand, other foreign ships also transported Imari ware to Africa. Though the Dutch and Chinese ships only could enter to Nagasaki in the days of Tokugawa shogunate, other ships could get Imari ware in the Southeast Asia. A shard of Imari ware has been found in Al-Fustat. The Islamic merchants might have transported it. In the future we will be able to find more Imari ware in Africa, especially the east Africa coast by the excavation.