Page 133 - Chinese and japanese porcelain silk and lacquer Canepa

35 Most shards formed part of open forms: bowls of small borders (Figs. 3 .1.1.3a and b). The São João cargo also included porcelain decorated
35
and medium size, saucer dishes and shallow dishes
with plain white, incised cavettos and flat rims with with Chinese landscape scenes or Arabic inscriptions. The survivors of the wreck
36
foliated edges. Closed forms include ewers decorated
with floral panels around the body and square boxes inform us that ‘…the merchandise in the ship, belonging to the king and others, was
decorated with floral scrolls on the sides and dragons worth a million in gold, for a vessel so richly laden had not left India since it was
on the lids. For further information, see Chris Auret
and Tim Maggs, ‘The Great Ship São Bento: remains discovered’. Both cargoes included some coarser blue-and-white porcelain of varying
37
of a mid-sixteenth century Portuguese wreck on
the Pondoland coast’, Annals of the Natal Museum, quality, which was produced at private kilns in Jingdezhen or southern China. Stylistic
vol. 25 (1), October 1982, pp. 12–34; Maggs, 1984, similarities with shards found during archaeological excavations at the Huawanping
pp. 175–180; L. Valerie Esterhuizen, ‘Chinese Ming
Blue and White Porcelain Recovered from 16th and site on Shangchuan Island in Guangdong province, show that the Portuguese probably
17th Century Portuguese Shipwrecks on the South
African Coast’, Taoci, 1, October 2000, pp. 93–99; acquired some of these high and coarser quality blue-and-white porcelains as well
L. Valerie Esterhuizen, ‘History written in porcelain as a small quantity of porcelain decorated with overglaze enamels, via the Chinese
sherds. The São João and the São Bento two 16th
century Portuguese shipwrecks’, Taoci, 2 December junk traders that frequented this clandestine trading post in Shangchuan before 1557
2001, pp. 111–116; L. Valerie Esterhuizen, Dekoratiewe
38
Motiewe op Chinese Porseleinskerwe uit Portuguese (Figs. 3.1.1.4 and 3.1.1.5). Although it is impossible to acertain the exact quantity
Skeepswrakke aan die Suid-Afrikaanse Kus, 1552– of porcelain carried by each of the aforementioned shipwrecks, the 320 pieces of
1647: ‘n Kultuurhistoriese Studie, unpublished PhD
Thesis, University of Pretoria, Appendix B, 2001, porcelain purchased by Catherine of Austria in 1555 mentioned earlier, suggest that
pp. 273–276; and Elizabeth Burger, Reinvestigating
the Wreck of the Sixteenth Century Portuguese porcelain shipments to Lisbon were regular by then, and that probably they were
Galleon São João: A Historical Archaeological considerably large.
Perspective, unpublished MA dissertation, Faculty
of Humanities, University of Pretoria, 2003, pp. 62–6.
36 Valerie Esterhuizen, ‘Figures in a landscape 1552’, in
Roxanna M. Brown (ed.), Southeast Asian Ceramics Evidence of porcelain trade to Portugal after the settlement of Macao in 1557
Museum Newsletter, vol. IV, no. 6, November- up to 1644
December 2007, p. 2; and Valerie Esterhuizen, ‘Bounty
on the beach after storm’, in Roxanna M. Brown (ed.), In 1558, the ship Espadarte wrecked directly in front of Fort San Sebastian on the
Southeast Asian Ceramics Museum Newsletter, vol.
IV, no. 5, September-October 2007, p. 3, respectively. Island of Mozambique in the east coast of Africa (Appendix 3). Although the Espadarte
A dish with a related Arabic inscription is found in was plundered by treasure-hunters and sports divers at least twice in the 1990s, the
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the Topkapi Saray in Istanbul. See, Regina Krahl
and John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi over (intact or semi-intact) 1,000 porcelains and large quantity of shards dating to
Saray Museum, Istanbul, London, 1986, Vol. II, p. 579,
40
no. 777. the Jiajing reign recovered from the shipwreck provide material evidence of large-
37 George McCall Theal, Records of South-Eastern scale porcelain shipments destined to Lisbon about one year after the Portuguese
Africa, vol. VIII, Cape Town, 1898–1903, p. 134. Cited
in Burger, 2003, p. 34. had established themselves in Macao. The finds, now mostly housed at the Marine
38 Comparable shards recovered from São João and São
Bento are discussed and illustrated in Esterhuizen, Museum of the Island of Mozambique, consist mainly of blue-and-white porcelain
2001, Appendix B (ii), p. 274, fig. a and p. 275, fig. a; of open Chinese forms decorated with mythological animals (mostly qilins, but also
41
and those excavated from Shangchuan in Huang Wei
and Huang Qinghua, ‘High Fired Wares Excavated dragons, Buddhist Lions and flying horses) (Fig. 3.1.1.6), animals (tigers, elephants and
at the Decorated Bowl Layers Site on Shangchuan
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Island, in Taishan District, Guangdong province, and buffaloes) birds (mostly cranes), flowers and human scenes (Fig. 3.1.1.7), but there
Questions Concerning them’, Wenwu, 5, 2007, p. 84; are also a small number of white-glazed bowls and cups (some with anhua decoration)
and Huang Wei and Huang Qinghua, ‘Shangchuan
Island and Early Sino-Portuguese Trade in the or with traces of red and green enamel decoration (Fig. 3.1.1.8). The majority of the
43
Sixteenth Century’, in Pei-kai Cheng (ed.), China
Westward: Early Sino-Portuguese Trade of Chinese pieces, ranging from high quality to rather low, bear commendation marks and only
Ceramics, exhibition catalogue, City University of a few bear Jiajing reign marks. The repetition of Chinese forms associated with the
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Above Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2009, p. 68, fig. 7-8 and p.
Figs. 3.1.1.3a and b Fragment of 70, fig. 11. The enamelled porcelain from Huawanping household and decorative motifs of the porcelain, suggests that Portuguese merchants
a blue-and-white bowl from the wreck site includes bowls and dishes decorated with red acquired what was readily available for trade at the time. To their customers back in
site of the São Bento (1554) and green enamels (few of them with red, green and
yellow), and bowls decorated in underglaze cobalt
45
Jingdezhen kilns, Jiangxi province blue, and red and green enamels. Portugal and the Portuguese settlements in Asia, the Chinese motifs depicted on the
Ming dynasty, Jiajing reign mark and 39 The archaeologists postulate that due to the porcelain would have been both exotic and aesthetically pleasing. Although unable to
of the period (1522–1566) proximity of the wreck site to the San Sebastian
© Valerie Esterhuizen, South Africa Fortress, it is possible that the ship was rescued at understand their symbolic meanings and Buddhist, Daoist or Confucian connotations,
the time of the accident. Also the fact that part of they would have been certainly captivated by them.
the shipwreck is in very shallow waters has made it
Fig. 3.1.1.4 Shards of blue-and-white easily accessible to sport divers and fishermen. It Archaeological finds attest to both the presence and distribution of similar
dishes excavated at Shangchuan Island is believed that an uncertain amount of the looted
Jingdezhen kilns, Jiangxi province porcelain was sold in the South African market. The porcelains throughout Portugal, particularly to the southern region of the Algarve.
Ming dynasty, Zhengde (1506–1521) and shipwreck was jointly excavated by Arqueonautas For instance, a rim fragment of a Jiajing blue-and-white petal-moulded saucer dish
Jiajing (1522–1566) reigns S.A, an archaeological company based in Lisbon,
© Huang Wei and Huang Qinghua and Patrimonio International S.A.R.L., a non-profit decorated with a border of alternating florettes and insects within petal panels identical
company under the authority of the Mozambique
Ministry of Culture. Some of the gold and 120 to a few examples from the Espadarte (Fig. 3.1.1.9) was recently excavated in the
Fig. 3.1.1.5 Shards of blue-and-white duplicate porcelain pieces from the shipwreck were
porcelain excavated at Shangchuan Island sold at auction in 2004. Mensun Bound, ‘Exploring historic centre of Lagos, an important port city where ships loaded with spices, goods
Jingdezhen kilns, Jiangxi province the Fort San Sebastian Wreck off Mozambique’, and slaves began to arrive during the time of Infante Henry, better known as Henry the
Ming dynasty, Jiajing reign (1522–1566) The Explorers Journal, Summer 2004, pp. 34–41; Navigator (1394–1460), the third son of King John I (r. 1385–1433) (Fig. 3.1.1.10). 46
© Huang Wei and Huang Qinghua and auction sale catalogue The Fort San Sebastian

132 Trade in Chinese Porcelain 133