Welcome to SEACS:
Southeast Asian Ceramic Society
(SEACS)
What is the Southeast Asian Ceramic Society?
SEACS (the Southeast Asian Ceramic Society) was founded in 1969 in Singapore to widen appreciation and acquire knowledge of the ceramic art of China and countries adjacent to China, especially those of Southeast Asia.
To pursue this aim, members meet monthly in live or online sessions to hear talks by both local and international experts, to share information and to study and compare ‘pots’. An important benefit of membership is access to previously recorded lectures by leading global experts. However, many of this website’s features are free and available to all ceramic enthusiasts. For example:
Read our members’ collecting stories (with their lessons-learned for new collectors) in “Ceramic Stories”, found here. Introductory essays to the ceramics of Southeast Asia, written by academic experts and archaeologists, are accessible to all visitors to our site here.
And we have one of the most accessed, readable and referred-to summaries of early shipwrecks of the region that can be found on the internet today. Jump there from here.
Upcoming events
Who we are and what we do…
We are a non-profit society, founded in 1969, whose members are interested in Southeast Asian ceramics. Members needn’t be collectors, just interested in the various roles ceramics play in history, trade and culture. We are open to all from beginners to academics to specialized collectors. The Society arranges monthly programmes held both live and/or on ZOOM with both local and international experts. The majority of our programmes are now recorded and available to members as a benefit of membership.
For local members, hands-on ‘handling sessions’ are held on a regular basis with experts to help members learn how to identify correctly the ceramics they may own or be considering for purchase. We also arrange an annual ceramics and book sale (featuring items de-accessioned from members’ collections) that includes many hard-to-find, out-of-print books on ceramics. Our online presence includes the digitisation of some of our publications. Field trips to both local and international destinations are regular member highlights.
The society and its early exhibitions “of the then-little-known ceramic tradition of Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam caused a stir amongst the oriental ceramic cognoscenti, … inspired a generation of younger scholars and stimulated the interest of government archaeological departments throughout Southeast Asia.” As a consequence, ceramic societies were to emerge in ensuing years in West Malaysia, Jakarta, Manila and Hong Kong, following the lead of the Singapore chapter. Browse the many resources open to all on our website.
Ceramic News
Marine archaeologists may have found Vasco de Gama’s shipwreck
In a remarkable discovery, researchers might have found the vessel that took the famous Portuguese explorer on his last voyage into the Indian Ocean. The shipwreck lies close to Malindi in Kenya and has attracted the attention of many archaeologists. Although the ship was found in 2013, on a coral reef around 500 m off the coast of Kenya, it sank 500 years ago and could be Vasco da Gama’s ship, S [...]
Japanese Ceramics in Chinese Style
Kindred Spirits: 100 Japanese Ceramics in Chinese Style (the Shen Zhai Collection) is a lush new volume edited by Clare Pollard that features third-generation collector-dealer and SEACS member Patrick K M Kwok's latest passion: Chinese-inspired Japanese ceramics. Together with Pollard, Curator of Japanese Art of the Ashmolean Museum, and Rose Kerr, Fukunaga Ai, and Maezaki Shinya, they have produced an elegant collectors' tome with magnificent large photographs and texts that highlight each piece's features and history. For additional information including a link to the publisher's website to order a copy continue reading.
SEACS members return from the 2024 Field Trip to Penang and Kedah
Each year, SEACS arranges a field trip to a destination of interest ranging from far-away sites such as Jingdezhen or Changsha to sites nearer home. This year we opted for Penang and Kedah, the locale of two previous field trips, to hear and see what new discoveries had been made, with a highlight stop at the archaeology laboratory at the Universiti Sains Malaysia....
SEACS President awarded a Friend of MCCY Appreciation Award
Mr. Kwa Chong Guan has been an active contributor to the heritage sector, serving as Chairman of the National Heritage Board’s (NHB) Archaeology Advisory Panel (AAP) since 2019. Mr Kwa’s leadership saw the Panel play a pivotal role in informing and shaping NHB’s longer-term strategies for archaeology initiatives. Beyond his leadership at the AAP, Mr Kwa has also actively promoted greater interest [...]
Singapore’s Tang Shipwreck Highlights now in London
A number of Singapore’s prize Tang Shipwreck artefacts including the gold cup, a Gongxian pitcher, and an early blue-and-white plate are amongst the pieces now on display in the British Museum’s Silk Roads exhibition. The exhibition opened 26 September and will remain until 23 February 2025 when it will hopefully return to its home in Singapore’s Asian Civilisations Museum, where the pieces are s [...]
Ming Dynasty Ceramic Treasures from the Palace Museum
Visitors to Hong Kong may want to visit an exhibition featuring over 100 representative Ming ceramic treasures from the collection of the Palace Museum (Beijing) now on view at the Hong Kong Palace Museum. It is organised in three sections and explores the development and outstanding achievements of ceramic production in form, glaze, and design in the early, mid-, and late Ming dynasty. The exhib [...]