Treasures from the Deep
April 2008
The distant waters of Southeast Asia have turned out to be a treasure trove of fine Oriental ceramics. Tons of high-quality Asian pieces recovered from shipwreck sites have been injected into the antiques market over the past 30 years.It all started in 1984 with the grand sale of the Hatcher Cargo. In that year, Christie’s Amsterdam took the bold step at auctioning the contents of a 17th-century shipwreck that had just been discovered by Captain Michael Hatcher in the South China Sea. The Hatcher Cargo sold quietly, but two years later when Christie’s Amsterdam auctioned the contents of another wreck discovered by Hatcher (that of the Dutch-flagged Gerdelmalsen, circa 1746) the auction house raised a staggering $16 million. Christie’s had started a trend, and a phenomenon known as “cargo collecting” came into being.
Most Southeast Asian shipwrecks were haphazardly discovered by fishermen, and there have been reports of sites of immense archaeological importance being clumsily rifled of their contents by ruthless treasure hunters and sold underground. Luckily, in certain cases, cooperation between private marine explorers and government organizations saved the day. The states that asserted jurisdictional rights over the finds took a share of the spoils, while the maritime explorers who discovered and salvaged the wrecks were allowed to sell their share of the bounty on the international market. A delicate balance between state jurisdictional rights and private interests was struck because the rule of thumb—“finders keepers”—finds little application in the world of underwater cultural heritage due to the 2001 International Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage and the fact that national laws tend to effectively outlaw treasure hunting. Arrangements such as those entered into between the governments of Vietnam and Malaysia with private salvage companies resulted in an unprecedented influx of legitimate, high-quality material.
There has recently been a great deal of enthusiasm around Southeast Asian shipwrecks, and some finds have received advance media publicity. Christie’s was the pioneer but rival auction houses soon followed suit. Butterfields joined the fray in 2000 with the sale of the historically important contents of the 15th-century Hoi An Hoard. Almost $14 million had been invested in the high-tech recovery operations but the artifacts yielded only a miserly $2.9 million at auction. The latest Asian shipwreck auction of the Ca Mau (c. 1725) was that held by Sotheby’s on behalf of the Vietnamese government in January 2007.
Malaysia is particularly rich in shipwreck sites, and no less than eight have been unveiled in its waters over the past seven years. Items recovered from such wrecks are presently being sold over the Internet. Some explorers seem to prefer direct sales because the prices are believed to be higher than those realized at auction where several items tend to be bundled together in a single lot. The oldest shipwreck site found in Malaysian waters is that of the Tanjung Simpang (960–1127), which was loaded with exceptional items from the Sung dynasty. The site of the Turiang shipwreck (c. 1370) yielded a cargo of important underglaze Sukhothai fish plates, which is extremely important from an archaeological perspective. The site of the Royal Nanhai wreck (c. 1460) yielded vast quantities of scarce early celadon ware. The Wanli shipwreck (c. 1625), which was recently found in Malaysian waters, is another remarkable site from the collector’s viewpoint because it contained an intact cargo of fine delicate Ming porcelain. The quality of the ceramics excavated from the Desaru (c. 1830), a Malaysian wreck that was bursting with blue-and-white ceramics, do not match those of the Wanli, but the Desaru’s impressive cargo of more than 50,000 spoons and rare Yixing teapots made an impact on the collecting community.
Vietnam was another jurisdiction that yielded some pleasant surprises. The country is famous for its 15th-century cargo of blue-and-white ceramics, the famous Hoi An Hoard. The find of the Hoi An in the perilous “Dragon Sea” was said to “redefine Vietnamese art history,” and the top floor of the National Museum of Vietnam is now dedicated to Hoi An exhibits.
The auction results of the Hoi An Hoard did not reflect the enormous archaeological value of the site, but other Vietnamese wrecks fared well at auction. When the Vung Tau shipwreck (c. 1690) went under the hammer at Christie’s Amsterdam in 1992, results surpassed projections by yielding approximately $7.3 million.
Other shipwreck cargos that are popular with collectors are the Nanking cargo recovered from the Dutch flagged Geldermalsen (c.1752), which attracted much publicity; the Diana cargo (1817); the Bin Thuan (c. 1608) with its 20,000 Swatow wares and the Ca Mau cargo (c. 1725). The Ca Mau was found to contain 130,000 items of pottery ware, which included superb blue-and-white cups and saucers and a number of extremely interesting figures. This cargo offered important tangible evidence of the passion for chinoiserie that pervaded 18th-century Europe and was well-received by discerning collectors of Asian ceramics. Items from the Ca Mau have already been resold by dealers worldwide and are selling at a high premium.
Genuine collectors do not want to participate in the looting of history. Issues of legality are very topical in the world of Asian shipwreck ceramics, and items without provenance stickers are high-risk. Collectors should ensure that the items they purchase have been legitimately recovered under license from the states, which assert jurisdictional rights over the finds. The investment made by some Australian collectors in the Tek Sing shipwreck (c. 1821) sank because the Australian government refused to allow the importation of goods exported without the approval of the government of Indonesia. With shipwrecks, one often understands the calamity only when it is too late.
Robert Attard is a freelance writer who specializes in shipwreck ceramics and military antiques.SOURCE LIST
Bonhams & Butterfields, San Francisco
415.861.7500 bonhams.com
Christie’s, Amsterdam
011.31.20.575.5255 christies.com
Christie’s, Melbourne, Australia
011.61.3.9820.4311 christies.com
Nanhai Marine Archaeology, Kuala Rompin, Malaysia
011.60.9.413.1002 mingwrecks.com
Trevor Philips & Sons Ltd., London
011.44.20.7930.2954 trevorphilip.com