coffee-cup; saucer BM-1995-0508.4.a-b

Period:Qing dynasty Production date:1816
Materials:porcelain
Technique:
Subjects:boat/ship bridge pavilion
Dimensions:Diameter: 14 centimetres (saucer) Height: 6.50 centimetres (cup)

Description:
Porcelain blue and white coffee can with straight sides and deep saucer are decorated with a landscape scene showing boats sailing between pavilions and bridges.
IMG


Comments:The Diana, a merchant ship of the Honourable East India Company was wrecked in the Malacca Straits on 4 March 1817. She was a Company ship, trading between Canton and India, carrying a cargo of Chinese porcelain, tea and spices. Her porcelain cargo of 24,000 pieces was intended for sale to merchant based in Calcutta, for their own use and for shipment on to England. The salvage expert Dorian Ball worked closely with the Malaysian Government on the retrieval of the cargo of the Diana between 1991 and 1994. The salvage operation was carried out under licence of the Malaysian Government, consequently many of the pieces from the cargo were presented to the Malaysian National Museum and the remainder sold at auction at Christie’s Amsterdam. This design is associated with the “Willow Pattern” of european ceramics.