I've been to that there London, specifically to the Design Museum in Holland Park (the building was formerly the Commonwealth Institute ) to see an exhibition : Making Sense by Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei.
I'll admit to not being very good at 'conceptual' art ( i.e. where they have to explain what it means ), but it was pretty interesting, even if only at the level of 'how are these pieces put together, how much effort goes into them, and how did he acquire 250,000 pieces of Lego?'. But one piece in particular intrigued me: this being Untitled ( Porcelain Balls ). I took some pictures, which I include here.
It was a pretty amazing sight - there are clearly many, many thousand of these objects in the piece (which measured probably 10 by 5 metres ). I think the smaller balls were maybe 2cm diameter, the larger ones about double that - perhaps 5cm / 2 inches ? It seems they are indeed made from porcelain, and the exhibition commentary says the following :
When Ai first encountered these balls, he had no idea what they were. It turned out that they are cannonballs made during the Song dynasty (960 – 1279 CE). There are more than 200,000 on display, making it hard to comprehend that they were hand-made.
That rather flabbergasted me; the sheer numbers of them, the age of them, and the idea of using porcelain for this purpose. From a brief internet search, Wikipedia confirms that cannon were in use by the 13th Century in China, and even has an article on Gunpowder Weapons in the Song Dynasty which is quite an eye-opener ( government factories were producing gunpowder in large quantities in the 11th Century!) but does not mention cannon balls being made of porcelain.
I can only assume that the description is correct - I am certainly in no position to contradict it - and I simply remain rather 'gobsmacked', if you'll excuse my highly intellectual language. I might have to read more about Chinese military history; now where's that copy of Sun Tzu?
I thought readers might be interested in this - if you want to go and see them, the exhibition continues until 30th July.
I really must get back to a spot of painting, and maybe even gaming; meanwhile keep well, everyone.
Would porcelain shatter with the explosive charge when fired (canister effect) becoming fragments or are the balls pretty much solid balls of clay and behaving just like shot?
ReplyDeletethanks - intriguing isn't it? I couldn't confirm it, but I admit I assumed they were solid balls.
DeleteThat is a load of old balls. What games do you have on the docket? I ponder a new ACW scenario to battle over in a couple of weeks' time.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jon - indeed it is! We'll teach you British slang yet..
DeleteI would very likely be free for a bit more ACW, thank you very much!
Excellent!
DeleteLearning British slang is a long and seemingly unending endeavor. A few weeks’ ago I figured out that “jumper” was a sweater. Before that, I learned the meaning of the idiom “not a sausage”…
DeleteVery interesting indeed. Further research required!
ReplyDeleteThanks JBM, indeed it has picqued my curiosity. I have an article from an old wargames magazine (1986!) by Chris Peers on the 'Sun Tzu' period ( albeit much earlier) which stayed in my memory, and the Wikipedia piece I highlighted was very interesting. China's long and conflict-strewn history could be really fascinating, I suspect. Can't go into yet another period now, though!
DeleteFascinating, a work of tremendous effort.
ReplyDeleteAlan Tradgardland
Thanks Alan, indeed I mainly thought about how much painstaking effort had gone into the assemblies, as well as simply acquiring the items. I think part of the idea was to show how 'mass production' - albeit handmade - has occurred in China for many centuries, and also how the past is perhaps not valued nowadays, allowing such objects to be collected very cheaply. If the show goes to Edinburgh, it's worth a look!
DeleteEverything about that is just strange. 😀
ReplyDeleteThanks Stew, indeed it is! I don't presume to know more Chinese history than Ai Wei Wei and his people, so I must assume it's true. Amazing stuff!
DeleteWell that was very educational. Thank you very much David.
ReplyDeleteThanks Richard : 'inform, educate and entertain...'
DeleteI suppose that if you are going to throw porcelain at someone, firing solid balls out of a cannon or slingshot would probably be more effective than throwing saucers and dinner plates by hand. (Not that I've ever experienced either option.)
ReplyDeleteThanks Ross, I think you are probably right.. It does seem strange that they used a material which Westerners would regard as rare and precious - but perhaps they had plenty of it, and the skills to make the objects, and maybe not so much with metals. Interesting, anyway!
DeleteIntriguing. Lots of questions.
ReplyDeleteIntuitively they must be anti personnel or possibly incendiary. Are they solid or hollow? If hollow they might themselves have been filled with powder like early grenades.
Were they fired singly from narrow bore guns or several at a time like canister?
How many guns firing for how long does 200,000 rounds equate to? For a given calibre they would require less propellant than iron balls. So maybe you could fire quicker without having to worry about barrels overheating so much.
Mind boggled!
Thanks for sharing this.
Chris/Nundanket
Thanks Chris, all excellent questions but I 'm afraid I have no answers! They looked like solid to me, sadly could not pick one up to examine.. I think if hollow, would be made in two halves, but I don't see join lines..
DeleteYes all very boggling!