A RARE HISTORICAL SHIPPING BOWL

CIRCA 1750

Details

A RARE HISTORICAL SHIPPING BOWL
Circa 1750
Painted on the exterior with a continuous scene showing three British merchantmen, two under full sail approaching and departing from the coastline and the third in distress with pieces of her broken mast in the frothy waves alongside and small figures crowding her deck, further small figures rowing in boats or pacing on the beach, the interior with a central iron-red flowerhead
10 3/8in. (26.5cm.) diam.

Provenance

Anon. sale, Sotheby's New York, 30 January 1980, lot 49
With Philip Suval Inc., New York
The collection of Francois and Nicole Hervouët, no. 676; sold Sotheby's Monaco, Collection Francois Hervouët, 22 June 1987, lot 1557
The collection of Kenneth Main, no. B-14

Literature

Hervouët and Bruneau, La Porcelaine des Compagnies des Indes à Décor Occidental, p. 53, figs. a,b,c

Lot Essay

This bowl records the loss of the Duke of Cumberland on 15 January 1750 as she approached the coast of Gambia. Her cargo of GBP48,000 was lost and her crew captured, but the supercargo of the Grantham, which had been sailing alongside, was able to ransom them for 3000 oz. of "round dollars". See Howard & Ayers, op. cit., p. 218, for a very similar bowl, but one that compresses and repeats the scene, later sold Sotheby's New York, the Mottahedeh collection, 30 January 1985, lot 131

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