Chinese Blue & White Nanking Cargo Shipwreck Bowl, C. 1750

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Softened by seawater, this blue-and-white porcelain bowl spent 250 years submerged in the salty waters of the South China Sea. … Read more Softened by seawater, this blue-and-white porcelain bowl spent 250 years submerged in the salty waters of the South China Sea. The bowl was recovered from the famous Nanking Cargo shipwreck, a trade ship of the Dutch East India Company that struck a reef in 1752 while on route to the Netherlands, filled with a cargo of tea, silk, lacquer and porcelain.

Finely potted with thin walls and a footed base, the bowl is hand-painted in blue cobalt underglaze with quiet scenery of a scholar in nature. A scholar pauses on a bridge between rocky islets, the surrounding river landscape dotted with pine trees and humble retreats. The interior is decorated only by a simple diamond border and faint traces of the original gilding at the rim. Still in excellent condition, the shipwreck bowl tells a remarkable story of Qing-dynasty trade, tradition and lost treasure.

Minor chip to rim. See less