Page 25 - Kraak Porcelain, Jorge Welsh
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Underwater recoveries from
datable shipwrecks
Literature , San Felipe
Edward Von der Porten, ‘The Tragic The San Felipe wreck, discovered o the coast of Baja, California, is the earliest known
shipwreck of the Manila galleons, the Spanish trade ships that criss-crossed the Pacific
History of the Manila Galleon San Ocean sailing from Manila to Acapulco. A er being substantially rebuilt in Manila, the San
Felipe: – ’, unpublished Felipe set sail for Acapulco in July , but disappeared in the following months without
document. a trace.
Edward Von der Porten, ‘The Early
Wanli Ming Porcelains from the The first accounts of what later became identified as the San Felipe wreck came in the
th century from Jesuit priests who were building missions along the California coast.
Manila Galleon San Felipe’, The missionaries reported being o ered Chinese porcelain and blocks of beeswax – critical
San Francisco, monograph to be in making candles for the churches – by local inhabitants.
published before the end of Although beachcombers continued to discover Ming porcelain shards on the Baja
coast for centuries, it was not until recent years that organized excavations were begun
by Mexican and American archaeologists. To date, a large amount of Filipino wax has
been uncovered along with Spanish and English silver coins and a thousand shards
both of porcelain and stoneware. Many of the shards recovered, however, are not early
kraak porcelain wares. The few kraak shards include fragments of plates with plain white
cavettos and flat up-turned rims decorated in underglaze cobalt blue with landscapes or
pond scenes within the central medallions and of small bowls with their exteriors divided
into panels (some of them with the panels moulded in relief) by single or double blue lines
and their interiors with continuous designs of flowers and scrolling foliage. A cloisonné
plate rim has also been found as well as a stoneware jar from the Rhine.
, Santo Alberto
The Santo Alberto was a Portuguese carrack that sank on its homeward journey o the
eastern coast of South Africa. As the Santo Alberto was floundering, the crew managed to hit
land just south of the present day Co ee Bay, north of Haga-Haga and Morgan Bay where
they jettisoned part of the vessel’s cargo overboard in an attempt to salvage the ship. Their
e orts were unsuccessful and on March , the ship split in two, sinking near the shore
close to Penedo das Fontes. The actual wreck site has never been discovered, however, it
is thought by many to be the present day Sunrise-on-Sea because carnelian beads and
porcelain shards have been found there.
The Chinese porcelain shards recovered from these beaches are believed to be from the
Wanli period ( – ). Many of them include kraak underglaze blue decoration with
