mustard-pot BM-1984-0303.10.b

Period:Ming dynasty Production date:1643 (circa)
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed, underglazed,
Subjects:bamboo insect,flower landscape pavilion
Dimensions:Height: 4.80 centimetres

Description:
Porcelain mustard pot with underglaze blue decoration. It has a flat circular cover and a notch cut out for a spoon to rest at the rim. The base in unglazed. It is painted in “transtional” style with fan-shaped panels framing waterscapes with pavilions, landscapes or bamboo. The cover is decorated with insects and flowering plants.
IMG


Comments:Harrison-Hall and Krahl 1994:This vessel, along with BM 1984.0303.7, 8, 6, 16, 19 and BM 1985.1119.38, belongs to a group of 23,000 underglaze-blue decorated pieces recovered from the wreck of an unidentified Asian ship in the South China Sea (Sheaf and Kilburn, 1988, pp. 12 – 80). Its cargo consisted basically of two different types of ware made at Jingdezhen at the end of the Ming dynasty: very late versions of ‘kraak’ porcelain, such as the dish in the present group, and examples of ‘Transitional’ porcelain, such as the jar and mustard pots. The discovery of two covers for oviform jar’s inscribed with a cyclical date corresponding to 1643 make a fairly precise dating of the wreck possible. This ship may have been on its way to Indonesia, probably carrying besides porcelain, also spices, silk and other commodities for sale to the Dutch, whose East India Company had offices in Batavia, modern Jakarta, Indonesia.