c1725 Ca Mau Chinese Shipwreck Cargo Porcelain Swing Tea Bowl & Saucer Yongzheng
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For your perusal, a lovely tea bowl and saucer made from Chinese blue and white porcelain. They belong to the Ca Mau shipwreck cargo that was sold by Sotheby’s in 2007. The pieces date to circa 1725-1730, so the Yongzheng Period. The pieces are decorated in the ‘Swing’ pattern. It shows boys at play with one on a swing in a garden, with rocks, trees and foliage. The rims are highlighted in brown. The pieces both came from the prestigious Mary & Peter White Collection, so these are genuine pieces.
The pieces are in good condition, especially for its age. It shows salt water damage to the surface from all the years on the ocean floor, firing imperfections, frit in the glaze and general wear. The rims have some small losses. The saucer has a firing line underneath that shows through on the top and a crack from the rim. The bowl has a crack from the top rim. Please see photos as these form part of the description.
The approximate measurements are:
Tea bowl: 4cm tall & 7.2cm top diameter;
Saucer: just under 12cm top diameter.
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The Ca Mau Shipwreck, c.1725
The Ca Mau shipwreck was a Chinese ocean going junk, almost certainly en route from Canton (now Kuangzhou) to the Dutch trading port of Batavia (now Jakarta). Disaster struck of the Ca Mau peninsular, there was a fire on board so severe that some of the porcelain was fused together. There were a few wine cups recovered bearing the mark of the Emperor Yongzheng who reigned from 1723 to 1735. By this time tea and coffee was the rage throughout Europe and the principal traders were the British 'Honourable East India Company' and the Dutch East India Company, (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC). With the demand for tea came demand for porcelain by which to drink it and so most of what they imported in these year was tea wares.
The Ca Mau shipwreck was discovered by fishermen working of the Ca Mau peninsular when their nets snagged on it. When they realised the porcelain was saleable they began dredging up as much as possible. Once the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture and Information realised what was happening they moved in quickly to secure the wreck site. The excavation was lead by the Curator of The National Museum of Vietnamese culture. In all, 130,000 pieces were recovered and 76,000 of the finer condition pieces were selected to be sold as 'Made in Imperial China. 76,000 pieces of Chinese Export Porcelain from the Ca Mau Shipwreck, circa 1725' by Sotheby’s Amsterdam on 29, 30 & 31 January 2007.
The Ca Mau wreck was first reported on in the daily newspaper Tuoi Tre (Youth) on May the 5th 1998. Accordingly, the authority of Binh Thuan province had confiscated 32,569 artefacts and 2,4 tons of metal objects recovered illegally by two fishermen from a shipwreck off the coast of Ca Mau province. Two experts dated 33,978 artefacts, mainly ceramics, to the Yongzheng reign of the Qing dynasty (1723-1735). Afterward, the recoveries, coded CMI, were handed over to the Binh Thuan Museum.
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Please see my other listings for more, mostly ceramic, pieces. I am selling a number of pieces from my collection built up over a long number of years, so keep an eye out for my future listings.
Your purchase will be posted as soon as possible after the sale is completed.
International bidders welcome. Sold as seen, no returns.
I package everything in the best way I can to protect against breakages, however, I can't take responsibility for items lost or damaged during transit. The U.K. postage quoted is for Royal Mail. International postage is with eBay’s Global Shipping Program and they control the pricing.