The Hatcher Porcelain Cargoes
By Colin Sheaf & Richard Kilburn

Blue and White // Ship Wreck Cargoes // Transitional 1620-1683

Sheaf, Colin & Kilburn, Richard, The Hatcher Porcelain Cargoes. The Complete Record.

Overview and general presentation of the two first of Michael Hatchers porcelain cargoes, the Ming junk cargo (c. 1643-1646) from a seventeenth century Chinese junk, and the Dutch East Indiaman Geldermalsen that foundered in 1752.

I think this is a good reference for the Hatcher cargoes, in particular the 1640’s junk. This book and the actual auction catalogs covers it very well. I would not call this book indispensable but the color pictures of the 1640s junk cargo are good and considering the precise dating of the pieces this is a valuable reference.

192 pages
212 illustrations of which 138 in color
Phaidon/Christies, 1988.
ISBN. 0 7148 8046 9

April 6th, 2008

The Ca Mau Shipwreck 1723-1735

Chinese Export Porcelain // Ship Wreck Cargoes

ca_mau.jpg

The Ca Mau Shipwreck 1723-1735

By: Nguyén, Dinh Chién
This is a very interesting book considering the time at which this ship appears to have sunk, as in pretty much immediately after the Kangxi period.

Quite a lot of the cargo consists of pieces that in the antiques trade usually has been given the label Kangxi. Since quite a number of the pieces actually carries the Yongzheng (1723-1735) reign mark, that theory obviously needs to go. This is a really good reference book for this expansive period in the history of Chinese Export porcelain finding its palace right between the Vung Tau cargo c. 1700 and the Gotheborg cargo 1745.

The book is of 258 pages (96 pages of text, 386 photographs, and 21 pages of ceramics designs) and many line drawings. The book was based on the report complied by the Excavations Committee together with data and records relating to the artifacts collected by the two provincial museums of Binh Thuan and Ca Mau, from 1998-2000.

The contents includes the archaeological excavations of Ca Mau shipwreck, the artifacts recovered from the shipwreck site and maps.

Author: Dinh Chién, Nguyén,
Museum of Vietnamese History and Ca Mau Provincial Museum (2003),
Language: Vietnamese and English,

March 30th, 2008

Lost at Sea:
The Strange Route of the Lena Shoal Junk
By: Franck Goddio et al.

Blue and White // Chinese Export Porcelain // Ming Porcelain // Ship Wreck Cargoes

lena_shoal.jpgLost at Sea: The Strange Route of the Lena Shoal Junk, by Franck Goddio, Monique Crick, Peter Lam, Stacey Pierson and Rosemary Scott

Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Periplus Publishing London (December 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1902699351
ISBN-13: 978-1902699356
Product Dimensions: 13.8 x 9.5 x 1 inches
Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds


March 29th, 2008

Porcelain from the Vung Tau Wreck:
The Hallström Excavation

By: Christiaan J. A. Jörg, & Michael Flecker

Chinese Export Porcelain // Ship Wreck Cargoes


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Porcelain from the Vung Tau Wreck: The Hallstrom Excavation

In the 1690s, a Chinese junk bound for Batavia and laden with ceramics for export to Europe, caught fire and foundered off Vung Tau, Vietnam. In the 1990s – and with the sanction of the Vietnamese government — a Vietnamese/Swedish team explored the wreck. A vast amount of mainly blue-and-white porcelain was found, and much of it was finally auctioned in Amsterdam, the cargo’s original destination. This illustrated expert study describes the 17th century export trade of China-Batavia-Holland and details the artefacts found. In part 2 the ship itself is presented and the methods and course of the excavation are set out. With drawings and photographs, biblography and index.

This book is divided into two sections: the art historical study of the ceramic hoard and it place in the history of European trade with Asia and China and the excavation process. It also presents data and commentary on the systematic underwater fieldwork, documentation and the raising of the cargo.

Format: Hardcover, 172 pages
Published: 2001, Singapore
ISBN: 981045208X

March 27th, 2008