Mount Zion dig unearths 16th century Chinese porcelain bowl fragment
Researchers say the find, with the earliest Chinese inscription discovered in Israel, is a sign of trade ties between the Ottoman Empire and the Ming Dynasty
Gavriel Fiske is a reporter at The Times of Israel
A recent excavation on Mount Zion in Jerusalem unearthed a fragment of a 16th-century Chinese porcelain bowl with “the earliest known Chinese inscription in Israel,” the Israel Antiquities Authority said Tuesday.
The fragment, dated from 1520-1570 CE during the Ming Dynasty, contains the phrase “We will forever keep the eternal spring,” the announcement said.
The piece was found over the summer, during preliminary work ahead of the next season of digging at a site on Mount Zion, part of a multiyear excavation project jointly conducted by the IAA and the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology (GPIA).
The piece was discovered by IAA archaeologist Michael Chernin, who consulted with pottery expert Dr. Anna de Vincenz and Hebrew University of Jerusalem researcher Jingchao Chen to determine the provenance of the ceramic fragment and translate the inscription.
Mount Zion, which lies just outside Jerusalem’s Old City walls, has multiple layers of settlement and history. Most of the artifacts recovered during the project date back to the Byzantine period (4th-7th centuries CE in Jerusalem) or from the earlier Second Temple period, so the researchers “were amazed to discover this inscription at the site, which belongs to a later period and has an unexpected origin,” the IAA said.
The porcelain bowl fragment likely arrived in Jerusalem due to developing trade between the Ottoman Empire and the imperial Ming Dynasty of China, the researchers said.
During the early 16th century, the Ottoman Empire was an expanding power and had recently conquered the Levant, including Jerusalem and what is now Israel, from the Egypt-based Mamluk Sultanate. Under Ottoman leader Suleiman the Magnificent, the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City were rebuilt between 1537 and 1541.
According to Chinese records, the researchers said, the Ottomans sent around 20 official delegations to the Chinese imperial court in Beijing during the 15th-17th centuries. Additionally, during the same period, there were colonies of Chinese merchants in Beirut and Tripoli who likely had trade interests in Jerusalem, Cairo and Aleppo.
“Evidence of trade relations between merchants in the Land of Israel and the Far East is known even from earlier periods – for example, of various spices,” noted IAA director Eli Escusido. “It is fascinating to meet evidence of these relations in the form of an actual inscription as well, written in the Chinese language, and in an unexpected place.”
