An Unusual Sawankhalok Ceramic at the Asian Art Museum, and Its International Connections

An unusual 15th‒16th-century Siamese ceramic in the collection of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco poses intriguing questions. What is it, exactly—that is, what was it used for? Who were its envisioned clientele? What are the sources of its form and decoration? Tentative answers to all these questions hint at far-flung trade connections with Indonesia, Iran, other parts of the Islamic world, as well as China. These connections hardly show up in written records, so we must depend on objects to reconstruct the story.