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HOME :
Asian Art :
Miscellaneous : Hoi An Style Ceramic
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Hoi An Style Ceramic - JL.008
Origin: Vietnam
Circa: 1530
BC
to 1600
BC
Dimensions:
14" (35.6cm) high
x 14" (35.6cm) wide
x 2" (5.1cm) depth
Medium: Ceramic
£6,000.00
Location: Great Britain
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| Description |
During the 15th century, off the
Hoi An coast of Vietnam in the
South China Sea, a trading vessel
filled with porcelain vanished
without a trace. Five hundred
years later, in 1999 divers
excavating a fifteenth-century
shipwreck off the Hoi An coast of
Vietnam in 1999, they'd made
history. The collection of porcelain
rescued from seventy meters
below sea level was
unprecedented.
Of the ship's eighteen holds filled
with ceramics, four were
completely excavated. Altogether
244,000 artefacts were retrieved,
with a miraculous 150,000 of
these pieces still intact. Included
in the cache brought to the
surface were hundreds of ceramic
objects, such as jars shaped like
phoenixes and boxes adorned with
pagodas, presumably intended for
everyday use by elite members of
society in countries throughout
Southeast Asia and the Middle
East. There were also many
individual pieces in the cargo of
high-fired stoneware.
Scholars of the subject are quick
to agree on the origins of the
pottery. "We know for sure that it
came from Chu Dau or a town in
its near vicinity," says Mensun
Bound, head of the Oxford
University marine archaeology
department that oversaw the
excavation of the shipwreck.
"What's amazing is that it wasn't
coming out of China's Ming
Dynasty, but from peasant
villages in the Red River Delta.”
Upon excavation a selection of
pieces were retained by national
institutions in Vietnam whilst the
majority were sold at auction.
This large and fully intact piece
bares all the hallmarks of a 15th
century H?i An item. It has
exquisite hand drawn blue
decoration on the interior which
features anthropomorphised fish
amongst flowers and filigree. The
exterior of the piece is decorated
with similarly refined line work.
Whilst H?i An items are somewhat
common it is rare to receive a
piece of this quality, dimension
and detail.
- (JL.008)
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