Chinese Export Blue and White Porcelain Tea Cup Ca Mau Shipwreck Cargo, 1725

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Deep rounded sides rise from a small unglazed footring to a gently flaring mouth on this Chinese export porcelain vessel, … Read more Deep rounded sides rise from a small unglazed footring to a gently flaring mouth on this Chinese export porcelain vessel, painted in cobalt blue beneath the glaze. The exterior displays flowering foliage and leafy branches sprouting beside pierced rockwork, rendered with soft washes and delicate linework. Concentric double blue lines trace the base and upper rim, while the interior is left largely undecorated except for a narrow blue border encircling the inner lip. Produced during the Qing dynasty towards the transition between the Kangxi and early Yongzheng reigns, circa 1725, this piece was manufactured at Jingdezhen for Western export. Cups of this delicate size were traded for serving hot tea or warm wine, forming a substantial component of early maritime trade. Cargoes like this were loaded onto ocean-going merchant junks sailing between southern Chinese trading ports such as Canton and European trans-shipment hubs such as Batavia. The junk carrying this ceramic cargo caught fire and foundered off the Ca Mau peninsula in southern Vietnam. Submerged under marine sediments for more than two centuries, the wreckage was discovered by local fishermen in the late 1990s, prompting an official archaeological recovery by the National Museum of Vietnamese History. The recovered ceramics provide direct tangible documentation of commercial porcelain transport in the early modern period. The underside of the foot retains an original circular Sotheby's Amsterdam recovery label from the 2007 dispersal, inscribed with lot code 50022 and Ca Mau Binh Thuan collection markings. Exposure to centuries of seawater has given the glaze a softened, satin finish, accompanied by warm tea-toned burial staining around the unglazed rim and natural firing speckles throughout the clay body. The cup measures approximately 7 cm across the rim and 4 cm in height, and is accompanied by a dark carved wooden circular presentation stand set upon low bracket feet. See less