Chinese celadon Porcelain 16cm plate flower design, shipwreck GELDERMALSEN, 1752
From our Shipwreck Porcelain Collection, a fine crackled porcelain bowl, ex-Christie's, from the so-called "Nanking Cargo," which is the term applied to the porcelain recovered from the wreck of the “Geldermalsen” ship that sank on January 3rd, 1752.
The Geldermalsen was a cargo ship belonging to the Dutch East India Company that struck a reef on its way back from Canton China, and sank off the coast of Indonesia in the Linnga archipelago. It took with it to the bottom of the sea over 150,000 ceramic pieces, nearly 700,000 pounds of tea, as well as gold and other cargo.
The ship lay submerged for over 230 years, before being salvaged by Michael Hatcher in 1984, where after the recovered porcelain was sold through Christie's auction house. The treasure was sold at Christies for 37 million guilders, about €50,000,000 euro today.
Catalog #281: A Selection of Antique Auction Catalogs, Newly Arrived & From Our Stock.
93. [THAI EXPORT CERAMICS] The Ceramic Cargo of a Medieval South Asian Trading Vessel. London; Christie’s: December 11, 1989.
The auction of the pottery from a Medieval Thai trading vessel, recovered by Captain Michael Hatcher, the same man who recovered The Nanking Cargo.
The items are basically utilitarian in nature and include unglazed pottery and celadons, many still encrusted with sea debris.
Softcover. 8”x10.5”, 20+ pages, 51 lots; b/w illustrations and 6 full-page color plates; a fine copy. [09026] $45.00.
Nice shipwreck plate from the ship GELDERMALSEN.
The ship sunk on January 3, 1752.
The wreck is found in 1984.
The ship contained over 160.000 pieces of porcelain.
Some of the salvaged cargo of Geldermalsen was auctioned in May 1986 at Christie's auction house in Amsterdam. This is 1 part of it.
Diameter: 6.5 inch. = 165 mm = 16.5 cm
Height: 1 5/8 inch. = 43mm = 4.3 cm
Weight: 1 lb. = 450 g;
Age: 1752 and older.
References:
The construction of the ship begins in October 1746
under the direction of boss Hendrik Raas. Her measurements are impressive: 42
feet wide, 150 feet long (appr. 12 by 42 meters) and a capacity of 1.150 metric
tons (500 'last'). Nine months later delivery takes place, on 10 July 1747.
It will be more than a year before the Geldermalsen leaves for the Indies on
her maiden voyage, but on 16 August 1748, captain Willem Mareeuw van den Hoek
can cast off. The crew will have to load and unload many times. First in
Batavia, where the Geldermalsen puts into port on 31 March 1749. After that she
leaves for Japan on 21 June, where she arrives on 2 August. Once again new
cargo is taken on board. On 31 October the ship embarks on the voyage back to
Batavia, where she arrives on 10 January 1750.
Via Cheribon (March 1750) and Bantam (April) the Geldermalsen is now directed
to Canton to take in goods for Surat. That, again, is quite a voyage and in
China it takes months to collect the proper merchandise. Finally, the Geldermalsen
leaves for Gujarat where she arrives on 8 March 1751, after having successfully
warded off an attack by pirates off the coast of Goa. Once more loading and
unloading, departure on 15 April. Via Cochin and Malacca the ship now sails
back to Canton, where on 21 July 1751, the Geldermalsen can join the other
ships of the VOC who are waiting there to be loaded.
On 18 December 1751, three weeks later than the
Amstelveen who will reach home safely in July 1752, the Geldermalsen leaves
Canton. There are 112 people on board.
It is Monday 3 January 1752. After 16 days' sailing the Geldermalsen is near
the 55th minute latitude, just above the equator. At half past three in the
afternoon captain Morel emerges from his cabin. There is no reason whatsoever
to think of a catastrophe: the weather is fine and there is a calm northerly
wind. Morel asks the boatswain and third watch Christoffel van Dijk, who is on
duty at the moment, how the situation is with regard to the orientation point
Het Ruyge Eiland. The boatswain answers that the island is visible to the
north-west of the ship. The captain says that at this point of the route
Geldria's (or Gelderse) Droogte has been passed and he gives instructions to
set a southerly course.
At six o'clock, just before dark, third watchman Jan Delia and two cadets, Arie
van Dijk and Anthony van Grauw, climb up for a lookout. There is no land in
sight. One hour later boatswain Urbanus Urbani is at work with the anchors.
It is now dark, but just in front of the ship he suddenly observes breakers. He
manages to shout that the helm should be hard over, but it is already too late,
for with a loud noise the Geldermalsen crashes onto a reef.
Of the crew members, 32 survived the shipwreck; the other 80 went down with the
ship. There is no complete list of crew members of the Geldermalsen, though
there is a ship's list of the Sjandvastigheid, part of whose crew transferred
onto the Geldermalsen in Canton. On this list those who drowned in the
shipwreck have later been noted. There are also data from other records.
Although the Amstelveen, due to the sudden halving of the annual supply made a
record profit, the VOC naturally suffered a loss from the wreck. The entire
cargo, valued at fl. 714.963, was lost, plus the gold at a value of fl. 68.135.
The ship's hull is recorded as worth fl. 100.000. A total loss of nearly nine
hundred thousand guilders.