Ceramics Of The Khmer Empire: Temples For The Gods, Ceramics For The People
Remembered for being a significant part of the Vietnam War and even more so for the mass genocide perpetrated by Paul Pot and the Khmer Rouge after the defeat of the Communist regime in 1975 the Kingdom of Cambodia was a mystery to most people in the west At the heart of this great country and of the Cambodian people existed a world heritage that rivaled that of the Parthenon in Greece, Stonehenge in the UK and the Mayan temples of Central America.
Called Angkor, capital city of the Khmer Empire, the vast ancient mega city, exist as impressive temple structures numbered in the thousands and decorated in stone reliefs on every conceivable surface, was a site to behold. The city’s size, grandeur, and mastery of craft stood in stark contrast to the ceramics of the time. Until recently, little was known about Khmer Empire ceramics, and fewer resources were devoted to the research of this countries ceramics for many reasons. Devoid of large amounts of iconography and religious narrative that were so common on the temples, the Khmer ceramics were simple, mostly form focused, and demonstrated a lack of stylistic development over an impressive amount of time. This lack of development was the defining characteristic and what made the ceramics stand out against most Southeast Asian ceramics.
Angkor, the Capital of the Khmer Empire, during what was considered the “Golden Age” of the civilization. During the era, 1113 AD to its eventual decline, some of the most impressive and famous of the Angkor temples were built. Of these temples, most notable was Angkor Watand Bayon Temple and the focus for clear examples of the Khmer people's mastery over architecture and artistry in sculpting. The population of the Khmer Empire consolidated into the mega city of Angkor, with an estimated population of 1 million when the capital moved to Angkor near the Tonle Sap Lake region in central Cambodia.
Mass irrigation
Nicholls systems were developed to bring water to every corner of the empire which helped maintain the population. The irrigation allowed for food production and the delivery of goods throughout the empire which created a way to control and sustain a healthy workforce for temple construction.
The eastern wall of the third enclosure at Angkor Wat contains the site’s most magnificent example that demonstrated the craftsmen’s skill, level of artistry, and care put into the work. The relief panel stretched 66. 05 meters and elaborately depicted the heavens and the hells and depictions of punishments for numerous offenses were laid out in a stunning detail. In “Sacred Angkor” Vittorio Rovedo stated that “every society gives life to signs in which the production of the sign bears only half its meaning, the sign’s reception representing the other half” in this case the ruler at the time, “Suryavarman II is affirming his right to rule the Khmer in intimate association with the divine. ” (Rovedo) Bayon Temple, built for King Jayavarman VII contained another example with depictions of the same face throughout the entire structure. It was believed to be the face of the king himself and reinforced the ruler's divine power, as well as his control over iconography and control of art development in the culture.
Ceramic vessel from this time period revealed an artistic hierarchy. The vessels were covered boxes attributed to the Eleventh to Twelfth centuries that demonstrated mastery over the ceramic process and form. A more formal design was depicted for this pedestal urn which demonstrated an ability to decorate the form, but lacked any of the iconography of the Hindu religion and only referenced to some of the architecture of the temples. Compared to the imagery at Angkor Wat these wares were for everyday use of the Khmer people. The urn was also a good example of another quality that was specific and consistent with Khmer Empire ceramics, the use of only green and brown glaze, the black being3Nichollsa result of the combination of green and brown. “Rooney suggests “Khmer ceramics were produced to meet the ritualistic and utilitarian needs of the local population. Many vessels served a dual function, as religious beliefs and animistic worships were integrally woven into the social structure, daily lives, and culture of the Khmer. The whole pattern of life was determined by religion. The ceramics reflect the functions for which they were made and the materials that were available”. In contrast, the temples were built out of stone that had to be meticulously carved and laboriously moved into place, a clear distinction was made as to what was important for the ruling class and the religion. Ceramics may have played a role in the religious rituals, but the temples were what was important for delivering the religious narratives.
Dean Frasche stated in Southeast Asian Ceramics “When religion or the supersensory is posited as the ultimate or underlying reality by a culture, it finds expression not only in the formal profession and practice of the faith itself but is often reflected in other aspects of life; customs, government, law, economics, family structure, and the arts”. This process was especially manifested in the Khmer Empire.
India was another major influence in the pre-Angkor region. Migration and trade was believed to have taken place hundreds of years before the time of the Funan Empire that preceded Angkor. This interaction and contact brought Hinduism and Buddhism to the region and subsequently both were the major religions at the time the Khmer Empire was established and consolidated at Angkor. Hinduism was established as the state religion because it was the dominant religion in the Java - Indo- China regions, was the origin of the first king. The preceding rulers of Angkor continued this practice, considering themselves God Kings and, by centralizing their power near the Tonle Sap Lake, they could not only control water resources but4Nichollsalso an important component to the Khmer religion, water worship. They developed mass water-management systems that distributed water throughout the entire kingdom.
Hinduism affected the social structure of the empire by the introduction of a caste system. The social structure of Khmer society was headed by the king and his courtiers. The priests were the most important group after the king. Besides conducting religious duties, they were also teachers and served as administrators for enforcing the rules of the kingdom followed in rank were the artisans, such as sculptors. The largest social class was the peasantry who provided the labor and the manpower for the army. The lowest class of Angkorian society consisted of slaves, which included hill tribesmen, prisoners of war, debtors and criminals. “Ceramics throughout the time of the Khmer Empire stayed the same in style and design. The farming class made most of the ceramics. That meant the production of ware was done around the growing seasons, with irrigation, could be almost year-round. In The AncientAngkorian Civilization, Tuly stated that “There was probably a more complex division of labor at the actual construction sites: general laborers to supply raw muscle power; skilled masons and bricklayers, carpenters, scaffolds and riggers, perhaps; metalworkers, who gilded many of the domes; and finally, the most skilled artisans of all, those who carved the statues and the exquisite and complicated bas-reliefs in the corridors of Angkor Wat and the Bayon” (31) This idea lends itself to a hierarchical system within the artisan trades, pottery being of lesser importance because it was not serving a direct purpose to the temple construction.
One characteristic of the Hindu religion that was present in the Khmer Empire was the acceptance of other belief systems. Buddhism started to take hold in the lower working class and was allowed to persist by the ruling class. This duality in the culture increased as time went on, up until the Late Angkor period, which was when the aristocracy and king were the minority5NichollsHindu practitioners. This change can be seen in the progress of the ceramic decoration in the ware. Animal spirit representation starts to appear, anthropomorphizing vessels as well as Buddhist architecture in design. “Angkor, in common with most state societies throughout recorded history, was never a democracy and although social stratification in Cambodia has never been as rigid as the caste system of India, there was little social mobility.
The ruling elites owed their position to birthright and the lower orders accepted their status as natural, particularly as it was closely bound up with the religious idea of one’s station in this life being a reward or punishment for deeds in the past lives. Liberty was an alien condition beyond the social imagination, without words to express it, although some ‘plebeian’ revolts do appear to have broken out before being brutally suppressed. The doctrine of reincarnation at least held out the promise of better luck next time, if one had lived an honest, obedient and virtuous life”. There was potential that the Khmer people developed their ceramics based off Chinese imported wares. Recent discoveries of burial sites in the Phum Snay region in Cambodia suggest that pre-Angkorian culture was a melting pot of migrating peoples, especially from areas in the north in China, where climate changes affected the farming cultures of the Yangtze River region.
It was believed those ceramic traditions were visible in the Pre-Angkor Funan Kingdom andwere being developed already at the start of the Khmer Empire. These findings are still being disputed, most likely because there was missing archaeological evidence that suggested an experimental period, or the accidental glazing of a vessel during firing as well as a lack of glazed ceramic finds in post Angkor Kampuchea that persists to present day6NichollsCambodia. This absence of experimentation lends itself to the idea of the Khmer learning and copying from Chinese imports.
The people of the Khmer Empire at Angkor were masters of craft in all its available forms at the time. Royal control of religious iconography allowed Khmer potters only form, utility and mostly architectural designs to work with. The Hindu caste system provided little motivation to improve upon designs and the inability to fire during the rainy season, coupled with tremendous food production required to sustain a population that size, left the ceramic development at a plateau for most of its 500-year existence. All of these factors are what make Khmer Empire ceramics stand out among most ceramics of Asia - simple and powerful form focused vessels for the people.
