Southeast Asia is known to many as a region teeming with tourist destinations, economic opportunities and ex-colonies, but a lesser known facet is its colourful and myriad cultures in which ceramics form an integral part of the social fabric. Focusing primarily on the Classical Period (800-1500 CE), this book views ancient Southeast Asian culture through the lens of ceramic production and trade, influenced but not completely overshadowed by its powerful neighbour, China. In this landmark publication, noted archaeologist and scholar John N. Miksic constructs a vivid picture of the development of Southeast Asia's unique ceramics. Along with three contributing authors - Pamela M. Watkins, Dawn F. Rooney and Michael Flecker - he summarizes the fruits of their research over the last forty years, beginning in Singapore with the founding of the Southeast Asian Ceramic Society in 1969. The result is a comprehensive and insightful overview of the technology, aesthetics and organization, both economic and political, of seemingly diverse territories in pre-colonial Southeast Asia. It is essential reading for all those with an interest in the economic history of the region, and also for anyone who seeks a better understanding of the brilliant but too often underestimated material culture of Southeast Asia.

This new edition of Roxanna Brown's pioneering study has been extensively updated to reflect new developments and discoveries including a large number of new color and black-and-white photographs, line drawings, and maps. Like its predecessor, it covers in depth Vietnamese ceramics, Go-Sank kilns, Khmer wares, Sukhothai and Sawankhalok kilns, Northern and other Thai kilns, and Burmese ceramics.

The Kamratan Collection is one of the very few private collections of Khmer wares in Asia, and is noteworthy both in terms of quality and quantity. More than 130 pieces are illustrated in this book.