A BLUE AND WHITE BUTTER TUB AND COVER, QIANLONG PERIOD, FROM THE NANKING CARGO
This lot is from a single owner collection and is therefore offered without reserve

Published:
1. Jean-Paul Desroches (ed.) et al, Two Americans in Paris. A Quest for Asian Art, Paris, 2016, p. 206, no. 329 (part-lot).
2. Pointe-à-Callière Museum, Two Americans in Paris: A Quest for Asian Art, 2016, exhibition album, p. 46-47 (part-lot).

Exhibited:
Pointe-à-Callière Museum, From the Lands of Asia. The Sam and Myrna Myers Collection, Montréal, 17 November 2016-19 March 2017.
Kimbell Art Museum, From the Lands of Asia. The Sam and Myrna Myers Collection, Fort Worth, Texas, 4 March-19 August 2018.

China, c. 1752. The cylindrical tub and shallow domed cover with pierced squared handles and bud-shaped finial, painted with a scholar and his attendant crossing a bridge towards a retreat beside a pine tree in a rocky landscape within trellis-pattern borders.

Provenance: Michael Hatcher, recovered from the Geldermalsen wreck (known as the ‘Nanking cargo’). Christie's Amsterdam, 28 April 1986, lot 4249 (label to base). The Collection of Sam and Myrna Myers, Paris, France, acquired from the above. The interior of the cover with remnants of an old label. Michael Hatcher (b. 1940) is a British explorer and marine salvor who specialized in salvage work in the South China Sea. In 1981, he was involved in investigating the wreck of the Dutch submarine K XVII. He is especially known for his recovery of large quantities of Chinese porcelain from the VOC ship Geldermalsen, which was sold at Christie's in Amsterdam in 1986. Previously, he had discovered another ship in the South China Sea, which became known as the ‘Hatcher cargo’. A part of the cargo salvaged in this wreck was sold at Christie’s Amsterdam in March 1984.
Condition: Excellent condition with minor wear and firing irregularities including pitting and kiln grit. Minor surface alteration consistent with objects from maritime salvage.

Weight: 339 g
Dimensions: Length 11.6 cm

This porcelain butter tub belongs to the celebrated 'Nanking Cargo', recovered from the wreck of the Dutch East India Company ship Geldermalsen, which sank in the South China Sea on January 3, 1752 after striking a reef on its return voyage to the Netherlands. The ship had departed Canton (Guangzhou) just sixteen days earlier, carrying a valuable cargo of tea, silk, gold ingots, and more than 100,000 pieces of porcelain produced in Jingdezhen for the Dutch market. The porcelain had been packed in chests of tea, which inadvertently protected many of the wares from damage during their long submersion. In 1985, British salvage expert Captain Michael Hatcher discovered the wreck on the same reef where, just two years earlier, he had found a sunken Chinese junk carrying a cargo of Kraak and Transitional wares dated to around 1643. The two wrecks lay barely a mile apart. The Geldermalsen’s contents were sold the following year in a sensational auction at Christie’s Amsterdam, where the combination of commercial history, shipwreck romance, and the pristine condition of the porcelain led to extraordinary public interest and record-breaking sales.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related blue and white butter dish, dated to c. 1750, 11 cm long, also from the Nanking Cargo and gifted by Michael Hatcher to the Groninger Museum, object number 1986.0041.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s Amsterdam, 2 May 2007, lot 146
Price: EUR 2,640 or approx. EUR 4,100 (for two) adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A pair of blue and white 'Nanking cargo' butter tubs and covers, circa 1750
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, decoration, motifs, and size (11.5 cm).