Rapport préliminaire sur la céramique importée à Banten Girang

Abstract

The Sultanate of Banten which included the western part of Java and the south of Sumatra, was from the XVIth century, one of the main muslim states of the Archipelago. Pepper production and trading made for the prosperity of the sultanate which capital named Banten was a thronged and extended city. Due to the lack of written sources prior to the XVIth century, the prevailing opinion was that the growth of this area had only started with the settling of the muslim dynasty. Actually, the muslim ruler took possession of a prosperous state which capital was Banten Girang with close trade relationships with South China. The results obtained through surveys and excavations with those of surface collecting gives a view of the chronological distribution of imported ceramics in Banten Girang: 1 per cent are dated IXth-Xth century, 65 % from the XIth to the XIVth (with more than 40 % of the whole amount from XIIth-XIVth century). Ming pieces of the XVth and early XIVth century are present along with Vietnamese ceramics (2 %), Siamese wares (5 %) and later dated « Kitchen Qing » ceramics (14 %).