When Zhang Qian went to the Central Asia at the government’s request in 139 BC, he would never know that the things on his camels’ back would be treated as pieces of luxury artwork, let alone the communication between the east and the west in the following 2000 years.

    The shining and delicate porcelain was invented in China in the Eastern Han Dynasty. It was only possible to ship fragile porcelains after the silk road was changed to maritime silk road. The main goods were still silk, but the trade for staple commodity were mostly porcelain. China’s porcelains had became a commodity popular in the world ever since.

    At that time, ceramic wares were things used in daily life in China. Other than those especially made for decoration, they were rarely seen as pieces of art. Porcelain was made of earth, but could be sold for gold and silver to people from the West, so it’s literally a change from “mud” to “gold”. As a result, in foreign countries, porcelains from China were admired, instead of used. Owners thought they were too precious to be used, so they displayed them in cabinets or collected them in museums. In this way, porcelains became pieces of art, even luxury goods.

    Chinese porcelain made it’s appearance in a lot of places, from Egypt to Iraq and from Iran to countries in the Central Asia. More than 20,000 Porcelains from China were collected in the Topkapi Palace. This is the largest porcelain collection outside of China as well as the ceramic collection with the highest quality and of the largest number.

    The collection is mainly composed of celadon wares and blue and white porcelains and there are also a large number of painted porcelains and ones with coloured glaze. 6 centuries have witnessed the Ottoman Empire from it’s establishment to it’s collapse, during which, China has gone through Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. Porcelains in the collection were made especially for the Middle East and the Near East. Some of them are extremely large, like giant porcelain plates with diameter from 40 to 60 centimeters as well as a large porcelain vase made in Longquan Kiln and a gourd-shaped blue and white porcelain vase with eight edges, both of which are with a height of 70 centimeters.

    Those giant utensils have reached the limit of the technique at that time, and are rare in China. But they satisfy the need of Turkic peoples who have been used to cook the whole lamb or cow and to sit around an utensil when having dinner.

    Ottomans were fond of celadon ware and blue and white porcelain from China. They used special skills to make porcelains more precious by adding silver, gold and gems to them. This kind of ceramic ware became valuable pieces of art.   

    Sweden was far away from the main route of the maritime Silk, but the country built the East Indiaman Gotheborg, a ship sailing across half of the planet to purchase plenty of porcelain, tea and silk from China. There are still a lot of Chinese porcelain in today’s Goteborgs Stadsmuseum.

    In the museum, there are porcelains brought directly from China and custom-made ones for royal family and nobility with symbols and special patterns. Some of them are in the shape of a western coffee pot. Besides, Iran has been an important goods transfer station along the ancient silk road. Blue and white porcelains from Yuan Dynasty in Ardebil Shrine enjoy high reputation in the international society.

    The Silk Road offered the foundation for a two-way cultural communication which was both for material and spiritual exchanges. Silk, paper, tea, pottery, porcelain and traditional Chinese medicine were brought from China to the west as well as cotton cloth, spice and luxury goods were brought from the West to China. The silk had not been a wide path linking Chang’an and Roma, neither a corridor lasting from the Western Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty.

    The Silk Road can be divided into several branch roads one after another and with interruptions. In 2000 years, it has extended form land to ocean and moved from north to south, linking almost half of the world. Since the road has connected multiple countries and civilizations, arts have been able to spread and integrate.

    Now, the ancient Silk Road is already gone, but new roads are coming into being. Just like it is said by Peter Frankopan, scholar from the Oxford, that “the axis of a spinning world is moving back to the original place which has enabled it to spin for thousand of years--the Silk Road”.