Sold Ceramics - Sold Shipwreck Porcelains - The Vung Tau Cargo, c.1690 - Page 1

Object 2011498

Circular box and cover

China

c.1690

Provenance: The Vung Tau Cargo. Chinese Export Porcelain sale, Christie's Amsterdam, 7-8 April 1992.

Height with cover 50 mm (1.97 inch), height without cover 27 mm (1.06 inch), diameter: 95 mm (3.74 inch), diameter rim box 82 mm (3.23 inch), diameter rim cover 87 mm (3.43 inch), weight with cover 112 grams (3.95 ounce (oz.)), weight cover 45 grams (1.59 ounce (oz.))

Of blanc-de-Chine porcelain circular box and cover on a flat unglazed base. Decorated in white glaze, the top moulded with a peony flowering on a gnarled stem, surrounded by fluted sides. On the box and cover the original Christie's "Vung Tau Cargo" sale labels proving it has been one of 24 circular boxes and cover sold in lot 453. (Amsterdam 1992, p.60)

Until recently, all unpainted, white pieces with a creamy, smooth glaze that is well fused with the body, were named blanc-de-Chine and supposed to have been made in the kilns of Dehua in Fujian province. The figures of Guanyin, of immortals, sages and others were highly appreciated in the West, in particular for adorning the interior. As the Hatcher wreck has shown, figurines and other blanc-de-Chine wares were already part of the export assortment in the mid-17th century, while English East India Company papers document their popularity in Europe around 1700. Such pieces fitted excellently into the demand for curious, new and exotic pieces, and for rarities and thus delivered good profits to their importers. Gradually, however, more information has become available about the complexity of the Dehua production, the many kilns that produced these wares in a wide area around Dehua, the differences in quality and the imitations made elsewhere. The Vung Tau cargo has simply added another piece or two to the puzzle, making us realise once again that blanc de Chine is only a very generic name and that. in fact, we know little about these wares. (Jörg & Flecker 2001, p.85)

These circular covered boxes came in two varieties. The commonest is a low, circular box with a flattened domed cover and small vertical ribs on both cover and base all around. The cover moulded with a raised design of a peony flowering on a gnarled stem, surrounded by fluted sides. It is interesting to know that the covered boxes were found in four sizes, all with the same decoration. They all fit nicely into each other, and the suggestion is made here that they thus formed sets and were sold as such. Formerly this type of boxes was indiscriminately dated as Ming. Now that the differences between early pieces and the later varieties have become more clear, these Vung Tau pieces have become the basis for comparison. The other variety of the covered box is the so-called betel box which is of waisted oval shape with a moulded decoration on the cover of a peony spray surrounded by a lotus scroll. Inside, the box has been divided into two compartments in order to contain cut betel-nuts and lime. Together these ingredients were used for sireh chewing, mixing them in a fresh leaf of the betel plant. This habit was and still is popular and wide spread in Southeast Asia, a practice for the purpose of cleaning the mouth and providing a mild stimulant. (Jörg & Flecker 2001, pp.87-88)

The exact purpose of these circular covered boxes is unclear, but in their pristine glazed condition they were attractive evidence of the delicacy of eastern porcelain, and merchants probably had little difficulty in selling them in Europe for patches, pills and other uses. However few were known before the the Vung Tau Cargo was salvaged. (Howard 1994, pp.220-221)

In total 155 of these 90 mm (3.54 inch) white-glazed circular boxes and covers were sold divided over lots; 452-458. (Amsterdam 1992)

For identically decorated circular boxes and covers, please see;

Condition: A firing crack to the cover.

References:

Amsterdam 1992, lots 452-458 & 460(part)

Howard 1994, cat. 258

Jörg & Flecker 2001, Fig. 87

Litzenburg 2003, p.85 & cat. 16

Price: Sold.