Lot Essay
Inscribed prospect of the harbor Gnalong on the island Hajnan...Skep St. Gustaf Adolph...December 8: 1784, til.d: April 21 1785 and made to commemorate East Indiaman Gustaf Adolph's forced reprovisioning stop of 1784 on Hainan Island in the South China Sea. Hervouët and Bruneau, op. cit., p. 22, illustrate a probably unique platter in the City Museum, Gothenburg, Sweden, bears this inscription as well as a map of the island. J. Wirgin, Fran Kina till Europa, p. 191, illustrates a Gustaf Adolph mug very like the present lot and in the collection of the Nordic Museum, Stockholm.