Original Early 19th Century Chinese Small Porcelain Bowl Recovered from 1822 Wreck of Junk Tek Sing Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. 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.

Here we have one of the items recovered, a small porcelain bowl measuring 4 1/8″ wide and 1 3/4″ tall. It has simple blue designs on the exterior, with plain interior. The bottom of the bowl still retains the NAGEL AUCTIONS TEK SING TREASURES sticker. Research indicates that the vast bulk of the recovered porcelain was made in the kilns of Dehua, China. In the west these fine ceramic pieces are referred to as Blanc de Chine (French for “White from China”).

Condition is very good, though it does show some chipping and staining from being at the bottom of the ocean for almost 180 years. A great collectors item!