Chinese Kangxi Blue and White. Porcelain

Précis of the history of the Ca Mau wreck. from where the blue and white boxes came from see page

Chinese porcelain boxes that are10 cm. in diameter are from Chinese junk(See ref no, ) now named the Ca Mau Wreck after the Vietnamese Ca Mau peninsular, the wreck having been found ninety nautical miles south of the Ca Mau peninsular, on the trade route from Kuangzhou (commonly known as Canton), southwards to the Malaya and the Dutch trading port of Jakarta (often referred to as Batavia). It is believed that this boat sink as a result of an intense fire probably from the galley.

The wreck was about 35 metres long and thirty six metres deep, the contents of the wreck were spread out over an area of approximately 450 square miles, much of the porcelain was protected by a layer of silt, but fishermen's nets had damaged large quantities of the porcelain. The porcelain had been packed into wooden barrels.

The dating of the wreck was arrived at by some wine cups with the Yongzheng(1723-1735) mark, some bronze coins from the Kangxi period (1669-1722) and also some wine cups with the mark 'Ruo shen zhen cang', which translates to 'In the collection of Ruoshen' a mark associated with the Kangxi period. All this strongly indicates that the porcelain is early Yongzheng

Chinese blue and white was perhaps at its most impressive in the second half of the 14th and early 15th century when there was a particularly strong Islamic influence. The strength of the designs and drawing at this time were never reproduced later on. Kangxi and Qianlong period copies of the early Ming pieces are generally over-crowded, with less substantial brush finished foot rims, which were not under-cut like their early Ming counterparts. Many of the later pieces had a different construction: for example, vases were luted vertically rather than horizontally. On early wares footrims tended to be relatively large in proportion to the piece and more often than not finished with a knife.

The other high point for blue and white porcelain was the Chenghua period and it is worth noting that the best Kangxi copies of this period are often difficult to distinguish from the original.

In the near future I will be able to offer some boxes and teabowls and saucers from the wreck the history of which I have listed below;

The prices of the boxes range from 50 UK pounds upwards.

The tea bowls and saucers range from 120 to 150 UK pounds

Précis of the history of the wreck.

These Chinese porcelain boxes (10 cm. in diameter) are from Chinese junk now named the Ca Mau Wreck after the Vietnamese Ca Mau peninsular, the wreck having been found ninety nautical miles south of the Ca Mau peninsular, on the trade route from Kuangzhou (commonly known as Canton), southwards to the Malaya and the Dutch trading port of Jakarta (often referred to as Batavia). It is believed that this boat sink as a result of an intense fire probably from the galley.

The wreck was about 35 metres long and thirty six metres deep, the contents of the wreck were spread out over an area of approximately 450 square miles, much of the porcelain was protected by a layer of silt, but fishermen's nets had damaged large quantities of the porcelain. The porcelain had been packed into wooden barrels.

The dating of the wreck was arrived at by some wine cups with the Yongzheng(1723-1735) mark, some bronze coins from the Kangxi period (1669-1722) and also some wine cups with the mark 'Ruo shen zhen cang', which translates to 'In the collection of Ruoshen' a mark associated with the Kangxi period. All this strongly indicates that the porcelain is early Yongzheng