A SET OF FIVE BLUE AND WHITE DISHES, QIANLONG PERIOD, FROM THE NANKING CARGO
This lot is from a single owner collection and is therefore offered without reserve

China, c. 1752. Each dish decorated in shades of cobalt blue with the ‘leaping boy’ pattern, featuring a boy holding out his arms on a rocky bank and watched by another in a pavilion amongst pine and wutong in a river landscape, all framed by a band of scrolls, below three floral sprays of peony, lotus, and chrysanthemum. (5)

Provenance: Michael Hatcher, recovered from the Geldermalsen wreck (known as the ‘Nanking cargo’). Christie's Amsterdam, 28 April 1986, lot 4605 (labels to bases). The Collection of Sam and Myrna Myers, Paris, France, acquired from the above. One with an old label, ‘Myrna Myers’, to the base. 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: Good condition with minor wear and firing irregularities including dark spots, fritting around the rim, minor glaze flaking, little warping, and pitting. One dish with a 3 cm long area of repair to the upper rim.

Weight: 3.1 kg (total)
Dimensions: Diameter 28.2-28.8 cm

These porcelain dishes belong 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.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Near identical
Auction: Christie’s Amsterdam, 2 May 2007, lot 150
Price: EUR 4,200 or approx. EUR 6,500 (for twelve) adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A set of twelve blue and white 'Nanking cargo' saucer dishes, circa 1750
Expert remark: Compare the form and decoration. Note the closely related size (28.5).