**Originally Listed At $300**

East Asia, China, late Ming Dynasty, ca. 17th century CE. This is a fabulous group of 2 saucers and 2 petite cups made of Swatow porcelain, all from a shipwreck near the Binh Thuan province off the southern coast of Vietnam. One cup and the saucers have a Batavia brown glaze on the exteriors, and all have lovely hand painted blue on white patterns of abstract florals and landscapes. The name "Swatow" or Zhangzhou most probably derives from Shantou in China, an old junk port along the southeastern coast of Guangdong near Fujian, and these ceramics were often destined for export. Size (dish): 4.25" L x 0.75" W (10.8 cm x 1.9 cm); (cup): 2.5" L x 1.5" W (6.4 cm x 3.8 cm)

During this time period, China's was the great naval power of the East, with technology that surpassed anything that Europe had yet developed; this was the time of Zheng He and China's role as an international trader from the Mediterranean to the south Pacific. As the Ming period progressed, and the political conditions that had held the overland Silk Route together deteriorated, a Maritime Silk Road became more important to Chinese trade. These cups were likely from South China near Fujian and were headed to Malaysia to trade with the Dutch East India Company, when the ship sank off the coast of Binh Thuan Thailand in 1608 CE.

Provenance: private Lumberton, Texas, USA collection, acquired before 2010

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#170292

The 2 saucers and cup are intact, and other cup has remains of another vessel's walls attached to the side. Light marine and mineral encrustations on the cup and one dish.