Boats Floating Afar: The Maritime Trade of Ancient Chinese Ceramics

The Maritime Silk Road was a network of sea routes linking China with Asia, the Arabian Gulf, Africa and Europe. From the Tang dynasty onwards, ceramic goods were exported in increasing quantities and became some of the most valued trade items across the Indian Ocean. Over many centuries, this maritime exchange linked distant regions, and these objects reached markets from East Asia to the Middle East and beyond, influencing trade, daily life and artistic traditions across the world.

The exhibition explores the history of Chinese pottery and porcelain produced for maritime trade from the Tang to the Qing dynasties (618–1911 CE). Bringing together around 120 objects, it traces the development of ceramic production and exchange across more than a thousand years of maritime commerce.

Objects recovered from shipwrecks, alongside archaeological discoveries and recent research, reveal the journeys these wares made across the seas and the networks through which they travelled. Together, they offer insight into the movement of goods, people and ideas along the Maritime Silk Road, showing how trade by sea enabled the exchange of knowledge, skills and traditions across great distances.

Boats Floating Afar: The Maritime Trade of Ancient Chinese Ceramics is presented in collaboration with the National Museum of China.