Physical condition of the lots from the 'Vung Tao Cargo' and the 'Nanking Cargo'
Due to these lots being recovered from a shipwreck, many have sustained some damage. There is no mention of the physical condition or restorations of any lot in the printed catalogue description. All lots are sold in accordance with the Conditions of Sale printed at the front of this catalogue. Intending bidders are advised to request condition reports or view any lots in which they are interested.
THE VUNG TAU CARGO
In 1989 a Vietnamese fisherman made the chance discovery of the 'Vung Tao Cargo' by trawling the sea-bed on the Southern Coast of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The cargo was salvaged by the state owned Vietnam Salvage Corporation in a joint-venture operation with the Singapore based Swedish diving expert, Sverker Hallstrom. The ship was an Asian trading vessel that had been burnt to the waterline as it was almost certainly bound for Indonesia from China. Batavia (now Jakarta) was the centre of the enormous Dutch East India Company (VOC) where a mixed consignment would have been prepared for the homeward run to Amsterdam or elsewhere along the Netherlandish seaboard.
There was little to date the wreck except a few coins of the reign of the emperor Kangxi (1662-1722) and an inkstick bearing the cyclical date corresponding to AD 1690. The best evidence lies in fact in the study of the porcelain itself that must have been produced within a decade of AD 1683, the year that ceramic historians regard as the official date of the re-opening of China's kilns at Jingdezhen after the Civil War that had disrupted the industry since 1630's.
The Vung Tao Cargo was sold at Christie's Amsterdam on 7 & 8 April 1992.
Twenty-four provincial bowls and spoons
CIRCA 1690
Details
Twenty-four provincial bowls and spoons
Circa 1690
The blue and white bowls freely painted with a foliate pattern, 14.5 cm diam.; and the Fujian blanc-de-chine soup spoons with each a pointed boat-shaped bowl and furrowed curving handle, 12.5 cm long (48)
Circa 1690
The blue and white bowls freely painted with a foliate pattern, 14.5 cm diam.; and the Fujian blanc-de-chine soup spoons with each a pointed boat-shaped bowl and furrowed curving handle, 12.5 cm long (48)