Fish sauce
Fish sauce is a clear, salty seasoning made by maturing fish with salt and drawing off the liquid. The broad family includes distinct regional sauces rather than one interchangeable method.
Equipment · Jars, pots and crocks
Tapayan and Martaban trade jar
A durable Southeast Asian storage and trade jar, with particular Martaban examples documented in Philippine fish fermentation; the name covers varied objects, not one standard form.
One trade label, many jars
Tapayan is a Philippine name for a large jar; CulturEd distinguishes it from the smaller banga and records its continued use for water, wine and alamang. A VERA Files account of the National Museum of the Philippines collection also reports martaban, gusi and tapayan as overlapping names for treasured Philippine stoneware jars. These terms describe a varied tradition, not a single standardized shape.
Martaban also names jars in the history of maritime trade. The National Museum of the Philippines describes a class produced in Lower Myanmar, while the London Museum's record for one seventeenth-century jar says that jars like it were manufactured in several parts of the East Indies. Those descriptions differ in scope. The trade name is useful for tracing exchange, but does not establish the provenance of every object that carries it.
A vessel built for storage and movement
The sources do not establish one silhouette for every jar called tapayan, tempayan or Martaban. CulturEd gives regional examples of Philippine jars with differing forms and uses; those local examples are not automatically the same as imported trade jars. The London Museum's c.1650 object is a rounded dark-glazed jar with a restricted opening and shoulder lugs. It is one documented object, not a template for every jar in this record.
Surface details vary too. The National Museum of the Philippines notes plain Martaban jars as well as examples with dragon relief and small loop handles near the shoulder or neck. Similar jars recovered from the San Diego shipwreck have uneven black glaze and light-colored clay relief in stripes or rows of raised buttons. These features can help identify a particular object, but should be copied only when its record or photograph supports them. The collection records describe jars used for storage and maritime transport; some also became traded or inherited objects.
Sources for this section
A documented Philippine fermentation use
The National Museum of the Philippines records similar trade jars recovered from the San Diego shipwreck as locally used for fermenting and storing salted fish that becomes bagoong. CulturEd also records tapayan use for alamang, a fermented shrimp paste. Together these sources show jar use within Philippine fish and shrimp condiment traditions, but the shipwreck evidence remains object-specific: it does not show that every Martaban jar fermented fish or that every tapayan served the same purpose.
This is a vessel account, not a bagoong method. The museum description does not supply a jar-specific ingredient ratio, fermentation duration, temperature or cleaning routine. A jar's context and contents must be established from the particular object and its local use rather than inferred from silhouette alone.
Sources for this section
What the records leave open
The collection records establish historical trade, storage and particular Philippine condiment-making uses, but not one production center or standard form for everything called Martaban. They also do not provide a standard capacity or size across this group. One London Museum object has its own catalog measurements; those measurements should not be generalized to the broader type.
The sources do not establish a current buying route or care instructions for historical trade jars. They document mobile vessels with changing roles, not a fixed fermentation appliance. A contemporary jar should only be matched to this history when its material, form and documented use support that identification.
Sources for this section
History
The term is tied to the port of Martaban in present-day Myanmar, but museum descriptions differ on production scope. The National Museum of the Philippines treats Martaban jars as a class made in Lower Myanmar; the London Museum says Martabani jars like its c.1650 object were made in various parts of the East Indies. The difference is retained here rather than resolving a broad trade label into a single provenance.
Equipment details
CapacityNo standard capacity is established for this broad group of trade jars.
SizeThe cited object records do not establish standard dimensions for the type.
PowerNo power The jar is unpowered; it serves as a container.
How you get oneNot established The cited collection and museum sources document historic jars and their uses but do not establish a current maker or market for the broad type.
CareThe cited sources do not give a contemporary cleaning, seasoning or storage routine.
Made of
- Ceramic — jar body
The National Museum of the Philippines describes the San Diego shipwreck jars as dark-red stoneware; the London Museum catalogues its specific c.1650 Martaban jar as ceramic, earthenware. These records do not establish one material recipe for every jar called Martaban. - Glaze — surface
Some trade jars were glazed. The NMP describes the San Diego shipwreck examples as having uneven black glaze; other jars were plain or decorated differently.
Limits
The name Martaban is not enough to assign a workshop or origin: the NMP describes a class made in Lower Myanmar, while the London Museum says jars like its catalogued example were manufactured in various parts of the East Indies.
Source →A trade or storage jar should not be assumed to have fermented food merely because a similar form did so elsewhere. The NMP ties fermented salted fish and bagoong to particular jars recovered from the San Diego shipwreck.
Source →Places
Lower Myanmar
Manufacture · Region evidenceThe National Museum of the Philippines describes Martaban as a class of large storage jars produced in Lower Myanmar. The London Museum uses a broader East Indies production description for its individual example.
Southeast Asia
Historical attestation · Region evidenceThe London Museum catalogues object 23846 among Southeast Asia, Burma and Indonesia and describes its use in maritime storage and trade; the record does not locate its exact workshop.
Philippines
Documented use · Country evidenceThe NMP documents similar jars from the San Diego shipwreck in fermenting and storing salted fish that becomes bagoong; this is object-specific evidence, not a use assigned to every Martaban jar.
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Sources
National Museum of the Philippines, Ethnology DivisionForm · History · Use · Fermentation
Local and Tradeware JarsThe page describes varied rim and body forms, glazes and the general durability of trade ceramics.
It locates a Martaban production class in Lower Myanmar; describes plain and decorated examples; and records San Diego shipwreck jars used locally to ferment and store salted fish for bagoong.
Cited in: One trade label, many jars; A vessel built for storage and movement; A documented Philippine fermentation use; What the records leave open
London MuseumObject record · Form · History · Trade
Martaban jarObject 23846 is dated about 1650 and catalogued as ceramic, earthenware, with Southeast Asia, Burma and Indonesia as related places.
The page says Martabani jars like this one were manufactured in various parts of the East Indies and describes their maritime storage and trade uses; it identifies Martaban as the Burmese port after which the jars are named.
Cited in: One trade label, many jars; A vessel built for storage and movement; What the records leave open
CulturEd: Philippine Cultural Education Online; Sagisag Kultura, National Commission for Culture and the ArtsTerminology · Local use · Regional forms
bangâ at tapáyanThe 2015 entry distinguishes a tapayan as larger than a banga and describes continued use for water, wine or alamang, with regional forms and names.
Cited in: One trade label, many jars; A vessel built for storage and movement; A documented Philippine fermentation use; What the records leave open
VERA FilesTerminology · Trade · Local use
Tapayan, Gusi, or Martaban: Tales of Stoneware Jars in the PhilippinesThe article describes Philippine stoneware jars referred to as martaban, gusi or tapayan and summarizes their trade, household and ritual uses.
Cited in: One trade label, many jars