Nanking Shipwreck Salvaged Plate in Boatman Pattern, c. 1752

Chinese blue and white 18th century plate in the Boatman and Six Flower Boarder pattern from the Nanking cargo which sank on 3 January 1752. The cargo was salvaged by Captain Michael Hatcher and sold through Christies Amsterdam in April/May 1986. The plate has the original Christies auction sticker to the base, but the lot number has been blacked out.

This plate probably came from the middle of a stack because it is in exceptionally good condition. Painted in fine underglaze cobalt blue, it is a well-executed example of 18th century Chinese export porcelain. The effect of 230 years underwater can be felt in the roughness of the foot where the clay was not protected by the glaze. Otherwise, apart from a few glaze dimples, it is in excellent condition.

The Nanking cargo is the most famous of the shipwreck cargoes. It attracted worldwide media attention when it was auctioned by Christie in 1986. 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. There it lay until it was recovered 230 years later.