Page 115 - Loss of the VOC Retourschip Batavia, Western Australia, 1629

Domestic ceramic material PORCELAIN
Flask or bottle BAT 2555
The remains of a single porcelain object was found on the site. The fragments indicate that the object was probably a flask or pear-shaped bottle, about 250 mm high. There was also a small frag- ment of the same material which suggested that the object had a spout of some sort, although there was no evidence on the body of the vessel, for its position. The body was luted together at two points, the mid-body and the neck. The blue and white decoration is a pale-blue (MunselllO PB 5/10) out- lineandwashofflowe",onrockswitha typeofkey- fret frieze around the lower neck. A similar type of flask is illustrated in Pijl-Ketel (1982:134-137), from the vac ship Wilte Leeuw (1613).
GREY-WIDTE STONEWARES
This type of ware is distinguished by a white or grey-white body (MunselllO PB 7{l), uniform and fine-grained. The
s u r f a c e i s o f l e n d e c o r a t e d w i l h s p l a s h e s o r o u t l i n e s o f c o b a l t - b l u e ( M u n s e l l 1 0 P B 3 / 1 0 to 5 / 1 0 ) . G l a z e is v a r i a b l e , r a n g i n g from a fine, glass-like glaze through to a poorly-fused, flaking and degraded glaze. In the lauerease, it appears iIlat the body is not properly vitrified, possibly indicating that the object eame from a part of iIle kiln that did not reach a high- enough temperature to achieve a true stoneware. It should also be noted iIlat the sea-water environment has a tendency
to degrade glazes, giving a calcinated appearance and feel,
Jugs with reeded or corded neck
Small jugs (250 mm high) Wilh reeding on the neck and
medallions on the body. No complele examples were found on the site, although a similar complete example was found on the VerguldeDraeck 1656 (Green,1983: Fig. 3 GT2109). Thesejugs are illustrated in von Bock (1971: Nos 366, 378, 444 and 367 (brown glaze» and attributed variously to Raren, Westerwald and Westerwald-Grenzau. Thejug stands on a pronounced fOOL with moulded cordon band between the foot and the body, the central band consisting of a line of cobalt-blue. The body of the jug is ovoid, tapering at the neck, and from the shoulder decorated with moulded reed- ing, banded in places wilh cobalt-blue. Three medallions on the central body ofthc jug are placed symmetrically with the handle. The medallions are generally outlined in cobalt- blue. Base diameters are 68 mm, 64 mm and 61 mm.
which may add to this effect
BAT 2118-20443
105
Part of a mask ofeither human or leonine face. This was possibly flanked by two heraldic medallions.