, 1450–1460 tree and
songbirds, 15th century Chu Đậu ceramics, in the
Nam Sách county east of Hanoi, was discovered in 1983, which led to a series of excavations being conducted there from 1986 to 1991. The village is estimated to have begun production in the 13th century, reaching a peak in the 15th and 16th centuries, and declining in the 17th century. From 1436 to 1465, China's
Ming dynasty abruptly ceased trade with the outside world, creating a commercial vacuum that allowed Vietnamese blue-and-white ceramics to monopolize the markets for about 150 years. Vietnamese wares of this era have been found all over Asia, from Japan, throughout Southeast Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines), to the Middle East (the Arabian port of
Julfar,
Persia, Syria, Turkey, Egypt), and
Eastern Africa (
Tanzania). Chu Đậu ceramics exported in Japan were called (An'nan) Annam wares. Chu Đậu ceramics also made the majority in the Hội An shipwreck.
An'nan The trade in Vietnamese ceramics was damaged due to the plummet in trade by Cham merchants after the
1471 Vietnamese invasion of Champa. During the 16th century, Vietnam's export of ceramics was also damaged by its internal civil war, the Portuguese and Spanish entry into the region and the Portuguese conquest of Malacca which caused an upset in the trading system, while the carracks ships in the Malacca to Macao trade run by the Portuguese docked at Brunei due to good relations between the Portuguese and Brunei after the Chinese permitted Macao to be leased to the Portuguese. Due to the so-called
Nanban trade in the 16th–17th century, fragments of Vietnamese ceramic were found in a northern part of
Kyūshū island. Among them was a wooden plate with character showing the date 1330 on it. Whether the Japanese went to Vietnam or Vietnamese traders came to Japan or if it all went through China is not quite clear. Vietnamese history records showed that when Lord
Nguyễn Hoàng founded
Hội An port at the beginning of the 17th century, hundreds of Japanese residents were already there. One of the more famous items is
An'nan wares (安南焼), which were exported to Japan and used in
Japanese tea ceremony although the high-footed bowls were originally used for food. The bowls had an everted rim, high foot, were underglazed with cobalt floral decorations, lappets above base, unglazed stacking rings in well and were brown washed on the base. The diameters can range from 9 to 15 centimetres. They were produced in the 16th and 17th century.
Hội An wreck , 15th century. Provenance Chu Đậu
kiln, Hải Dương province. The
Hội An wreck lies 22 miles off the coast of central Vietnam in the South China Sea. The ship was carrying a large cargo of Vietnamese ceramics from the mid- to late-15th century. The provenance of the pieces was known to be the kilns of the Red River Delta (such as
Chu Đậu) because excavations in the region had been ongoing since their discovery in 1983. The only pieces remaining at the kiln sites were wasters (pieces that had fused, collapsed or exploded in the firing process). Intact examples of the wares produced were rare, since all were exported. When the wreck was found there was excitement among collectors and archaeologists, for it promised the first cargo consisting solely of Vietnamese wares. In 1996 over 250,000 intact examples of Vietnamese ceramic were recovered. 10% of unique ware was kept by the government for national museums, while the rest was allowed to be auctioned off to pay for recovery costs. ==Cham kilns (Go Sanh ceramics)==