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Tomorrow, Museo Sugbo and the University of San Carlos Museum join hands with the USC Kabilin Heritage Studies Center to host a very important lecture on shipwreck ceramics found in Malaysia.
The speaker is Sten Sjostrand, a senior marine archaeologist and researcher based in Malaysia. Sten?s resolve to publish the results of various shipwreck excavations of the Malaysian coast and elsewhere has added to the dearth of information especially with regard to the dating of Chinese and Southeast Asian ceramics.
An engineer by profession, Sten has been designing marine and offshore structures for the last 30 years in Malaysia, work that eventually brought him to a deep interest in the maritime history of Southeast Asia. As principal researcher of Nanahai Maritime Archaeology Berhad, he has been credited with the discovery of a number of shipwrecks covering the period 14th century up to World War II.
In 2002, he co-wrote the exhibition catalogue ?Maritime Archaeology and Shipwreck Ceramics in Malayia? with the late Roxanna Brown, the foremost export on ceramics made in mainland Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Burma and Cambodia). The book is now out of print but his latest one, ?The Wanli Shipwreck and its Ceramic Cargo?, which he co-wrote with Sharipah Lok Lok of the Department of Museums, Malaysia, is still available and I suspect he will bring along copies to sell. I have my own copy of this book, considered the most comprehensive report ever published on the contents of one single shipwreck.
Well-written, incisive and profuse with specimens of all the Wanli?s cargo, the book is a must for anyone doing research on Chinese and southeast Asian ceramics of the 1500s. All told, the book is a catalogue of the form, style, type and decoration of the ceramics of the period, an invaluable piece of scholarly work for archaeologists, collectors and art historians.
Sten has not only excavated shipwrecks, he has also collaborated with the Malaysian government, through its Department of Museums, to exhibit the finds from these wrecks.
The book ?Mysteries of Malaysia Shipwrecks?, which he wrote, delves into the design and construction of 10 shipwrecks discovered off the South China Sea. Like all his published works, this coffee table book is not just for the relaxing reader but is profuse with novel information on ancient naval architecture and data on the cargoes that were carried by these 10 ships.
In tomorrow?s lecture, Sten will delve on these shipwrecks and will surely awe the audience with the treasure trove they contain, many of which are now displayed at the National Museum of Malaysia.
The lecture entitled ?Chinese and Southeast Asian Ceramics from Shipwrecks Found in Malaysia? will be held at the Museo Sugbo Lecture Room from 9:30 a.m.to 11:30 a.m. I urge anyone who wants to attend to reserve a seat by calling the USC Museum at Tel. No. 2531000 loc. 191 or the secretariat of the Cebu Provincial Tourism and Heritage Council (ask for Noricar, Tel. No. 2535642). Admission is free but seats are limited. Those who are interested in Sten?s many books will be able to buy the limited copies that he will bring along with him.
