Want to know more about the cultural and artistic exchange between Central Asia and the Tang Dynasty?
A Makara pattern ceramic plate
The ceramic plate was discovered in a Tang shipwreck (Batu Hitam) which was founded in Belitung island in 1998.
The ceramic plate has borrowed and shared the Buddhism culture because Buddhism always used the symbol of Makara as a metaphor for love and caring of Bodhisattva.
We can observe the culture of Buddhism had affected and integrated with the Tang ceramic production techniques.
An Indian lotus pattern vessel
The vessel was excavated in 1983 at Tongguan Kiln by the Hunan Museum.
It was also a Tang ceramic which has drawn Buddhism element onto the surface because lotus is the holy flower of the buddha.
In the Buddhism legend, when Gautama Buddha was born, he steps out of the lotus, and it had become the story of “step-by-step-lotus”. (See the picture below)
Moreover, after Gautama Buddha became a buddha, he always sits on the lotus seat, therefore the lotus had become the symbol of buddha and auspicious things.
Since Buddhism prevailed in the Tang dynasty, we can find the symbols of Buddhism on ceramics easily.
