Nanking Chinese Shipwreck Cargo Provincial Floral Bowl c1750
This rare piece is freely painted with stylised Plants and flowers.
Size: 14cm in diameter
The Nanking Cargo Shipwreck c1750
The Nanking cargo is the most famous of the shipwreck cargoes. It
attracted world wide media attention when it was auctioned by Christies
Amsterdam in April 1986.The ships name was 'The Geldermalsen' belonging
to the Dutch East India Company. The (VerenigdeOostIndische Compagnie
(V.O.C). She set sail from Canton on December 18th 1751 bound for
Amsterdam. The valuable cargo consisted of over 160,000 pieces of
porcelain, tea, raw silk, textiles and one hundred and forty five gold
ingots. On January 3rd 1752, after 16 days sailing the Geldermalsen hit a
reef and sank in the South China Sea. The cargo was recovered by
Captain Michael Hatcher and his team in 1985-86, shipped to Amsterdam
and sold two hundred and thirty four years late! I spent four days
viewing the porcelain in order to select the nicer pieces. The auction
which made £10,000,000 was one of the most fascinating I have ever been
to, attracting very many bidders from all over the world both in room
and on the telephone, everyone wanted a piece of the Nanking Cargo!