Porcelain crackled 10cm celadon bowl from shipwreck GELDERMALSEN, anno 1752 From our Shipwreck Porcelain Collection, a fine crackled porcelain bowl, ex-Christie's, from the so-called "Nanking Cargo," which is the term applied to the porcelain recovered from the wreck of the Geldermalsen ship that sank on January 3rd, 1752. The Geldermalsen was a cargo ship belonging to the Dutch East India Company that struck a reef on its way back from Canton China, and sank off the coast of Indonesia in the Linnga archipelago. It took with it to the bottom of the sea over 150,000 ceramic pieces, nearly 700,000 pounds of tea, as well as gold and other cargo. The ship lay submerged for over 230 years, before being salvaged by Michael Hatcher in 1984, where after the recovered porcelain was sold through Christie's auction house. The treasure was sold at Christies for 37 million guilders, about 50,000,000 euro today The ship sunk on January 3, 1752. The wreck is found in 1984. The ship contained over 160.000 pieces of porcelain. Some of the salvaged cargo of Geldermalsen was auctioned in May 1986 at Christie's auction house in Amsterdam. This is a part of it. Diameter: 4 inch = 10 cm Height: ca. 1 6/8 inch. Age: 1752 and older. References: The construction of the ship begins in October 1746 under the direction of boss Hendrik Raas. Her measurements are impressive: 42 feet wide, 150 feet long (appr. 12 by 42 meters) and a capacity of 1.150 metric tons (500 'last'). Nine months later delivery takes place, on 10 July 1747. It will be more than a year before the Geldermalsen leaves for the Indies on her maiden voyage, but on 16 August 1748, captain Willem Mareeuw van den Hoek can cast off. The crew will have to load and unload many times. First in Batavia, where the Geldermalsen puts into port on 31 March 1749. After that she leaves for Japan on 21 June, where she arrives on 2 August. Once again new cargo is taken on board. On 31 October the ship embarks on the voyage back to Batavia, where she arrives on 10 January 1750. Via Cheribon (March 1750) and Bantam (April) the Geldermalsen is now directed to Canton to take in goods for Surat. That, again, is quite a voyage and in China it takes months to collect the proper merchandise. Finally, the Geldermalsen leaves for Gujarat where she arrives on 8 March 1751, after having successfully warded off an attack by pirates off the coast of Goa. Once more loading and unloading, departure on 15 April. Via Cochin and Malacca the ship now sails back to Canton, where on 21 July 1751, the Geldermalsen can join the other ships of the VOC who are waiting there to be loaded. On 18 December 1751, three weeks later than the Amstelveen who will reach home safely in July 1752, the Geldermalsen leaves Canton. There are 112 people on board. It is Monday 3 January 1752. After 16 days' sailing the Geldermalsen is near the 55th minute latitude, just above the equator. At half past three in the afternoon captain Morel emerges from his cabin. There is no reason whatsoever to think of a catastrophe: the weather is fine and there is a calm northerly wind. Morel asks the boatswain and third watch Christoffel van Dijk, who is on duty at the moment, how the situation is with regard to the orientation point Het Ruyge Eiland. The boatswain answers that the island is visible to the north-west of the ship. The captain says that at this point of the route Geldria's (or Gelderse) Droogte has been passed and he gives instructions to set a southerly course. At six o'clock, just before dark, third watchman Jan Delia and two cadets, Arie van Dijk and Anthony van Grauw, climb up for a lookout. There is no land in sight. One hour later boatswain Urbanus Urbani is at work with the anchors. It is now dark, but just in front of the ship he suddenly observes breakers. He manages to shout that the helm should be hard over, but it is already too late, for with a loud noise the Geldermalsen crashes onto a reef. Of the crew members, 32 survived the shipwreck; the other 80 went down with the ship. There is no complete list of crew members of the Geldermalsen, though there is a ship's list of the Sjandvastigheid, part of whose crew transferred onto the Geldermalsen in Canton. On this list those who drowned in the shipwreck have later been noted. There are also data from other records. Although the Amstelveen, due to the sudden halving of the annual supply made a record profit, the VOC naturally suffered a loss from the wreck. The entire cargo, valued at fl. 714.963, was lost, plus the gold at a value of fl. 68.135. The ship's hull is recorded as worth fl. 100.000. A total loss of nearly nine hundred thousand guilders.
Condition Fine crackled celadon, covered with corals, no defects
Low Estimate: 2000.0;
High Estimate: 6000.0;
Original: Yes;
Circa: 1750;