Original Chinese Export “Ming Dynasty” Ceramic Bowl Possibly Recovered from the TEK SING Wreck Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is charming and is totally genuine. The origin of the bowl is almost certainly pre 1644, as it is plainer in decoration that those of the following QING DYNASTY that began in 1644. The vessel TEK SING was sailing out of AMOY as it was then named, en route to BATAVIA in the Dutch East Indies. A massive cargo of 350,000 pieces was lost but now some recovered mostly unfortunately BROKEN.

This bowl measuring 3″ tall and 4 1/4″ across is still in excellent condition, with just some wear to the glaze on the lip from storage.

A lovely early, probably MING DYNASTY Porcelain Bowl with blue decoration dating to 1640.

More on the Tek Sing Wreck:

Today often referred to as “The Titanic of the East”, the 1822 Sinking of the Chinese Junk Tek Sing resulted in a huge loss of life, especially during the early 19th century. As there were no manifests, the number of victims is not clear, but it has been stated that possibly 1600 lives were lost. The vessel was en route to Batavia in the Dutch East Indies (Today Jakarta, Indonesia), when she sank on February 6, 1822 in an area of the South China Sea known as the Belvidere Shoals. The Vessel was attempting a shortcut through the Gaspar Strait between the Bangka and Belitung Islands, and ran aground on a reef. She later sank in approximately 100ft of water, a month after departing Amoy, China. The ship was loaded with Chinese Immigrants to the Dutch East Indies, as well as a large amount of Chinese “Blue & White” porcelain.

On May 12th, British marine salvor Michael Hatcher discovered the wreck, subsequently recovering an estimated 350,000 pieces of cargo. Almost all of this was porcelain, intended for the Dutch East Indies market. These items were then put up for sale by Nagel Auctions of Stuttgart, Germany in 2000.