Chinese Porcelain Imari Bowl Geldermalsen Shipwreck

Out of stock

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Condition Report: Overall Condition A (Very Good). The bowls is a bit warped. There is a hairline / glaze line to the outside of the base rim . Size 350mm

Lovely  Chinese Porcelain Bowl from the Geldermasen Cargo. Sold by Christies in AMsterdam in 1984

The Nanking Cargo

1752

 

On Monday January 3, 1752, the Dutch East India Company, (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC) ship Geldermalsen, struck a reef on her return journey to the Netherlands and sank in the South China Sea. Of the crew 32 survived and 80 went down with the ship and her cargo of tea, raw silk, textiles, dried wares, groceries, lacquer and porcelain.

 

The cargo of Chinese porcelain was originally potted in Jingdezhen, Jiangzi province then shipped to Nanking for delivery to the Dutch East India Company, (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC) ship Geldermalsen for final transportation to the Netherlands. The Geldermalsen struck a reef on her return journey to the Netherlands and sank in the South China Sea on January 3, 1752. The cargo was recovered by Captain Michael Hatcher and his team in 1985 and sold by Christie’s Amsterdam on 28 April – 2 May 1985 as ‘The Nanking Cargo. Chinese Export Porcelain and Gold’ two hundred and thirty five years later. (Jörg 1986/1. pp.39-59).

 

An interesting detail is that Captain Michael Hatcher found the wreck of the Geldermalsen on the same reef as he earlier, in 1983, found the wreck of a Chinese junk. both wrecks were about a mile apart. This Chinese Junk wreck came to be known as “The Hatcher Junk” she had a cargo of Kraak and Transitional porcelain objects that were dated c.1643. (Sheaf & Kilburn 1988, p.27)