葡萄牙人东来初期的海上交通与瓷器贸易

Maritime Contacts and Porcelain Trade between China and Portugal in the 16^(th) Century

1511年,葡萄牙人占领马六甲,并以此为据点,渗透入东南亚的传统贸易网络,同时积极寻求与中国商人的贸易机会。由于早期中葡官方往来的交恶,活跃于中国东南沿海的葡萄牙商人逐渐参与到本地贸易网络的走私活动中,航行于广东及浙江的诸多离岛,与往来此地的中国私商进行贸易。关于这一时期葡萄牙商人在东南沿海的航行及贸易细节,文献档案的记载较为有限,而在作为出口商品的外销瓷器上却有迹可寻。因此,本文将主要考察收藏于东南亚、中东及欧洲等地的早期中葡贸易瓷器,结合文献记载,探讨此时期中葡瓷器贸易的规模、路线及交易模式等问题,以推进我们对葡萄牙人东来早期海上活动的认识。

In the year of 1511,the Portuguese occupied Malacca and turned it into a stronghold through which they penetrated into the traditional trade network in Southeast Asia and sought trade with the Chinese merchants who were actively in the region.In 1521,as the Ming court refused to establish diplomatic relations and bilateral trade with the Portuguese,maritime trade was officially banned on the southeast coast of China. Thus,most of the Portuguese merchants had to move to the islands beyond the reach of the Ming government. Since then,they had been increasingly involved in local smuggling trade and remained active on these islands until the opening of Macao（ 1553） as a legal trade port for the Portuguese. The details of the Portuguese＇s navigation and trade activities during this period are not clear enough due to the limited records in documents and archives,but they are traceable through the Chinese porcelain wares exported as commodities at that time. This paper studies the early phase of porcelain wares traded between China and Portugal in the hope to reveal the trade scale,sail-ing routes and trade patterns at the early stage of the Portuguese in China. These wares are mainly from museum collections and archaeological findings in China,Southeast Asia,the Middle East and Europe. Coupled with historical records gleaned,this paper tries to explore the stories behind the wares to enhance our understanding of the early history of maritime trade between China and Portugal.