Antique Nanking Cargo Batavian Ware Bowl c.1752 – Café au Lait, Blue & White Landscape, Christie's Label, Shipwreck Porcelain

On January 3rd, 1752, somewhere in the South China Sea, a Dutch East India Company ship called the Geldermalsen struck a reef and slipped beneath the waves. She carried tea, silk, gold ingots, and tens of thousands of pieces of Chinese porcelain — all bound for the drawing rooms and tea tables of the Netherlands, never to arrive. For 233 years, this bowl lay on the seabed in darkness and silence, packed in tea leaves and rice pulp, waiting.

In 1985, British marine salvor Michael Hatcher found the wreck and brought its cargo back to the surface. The following year, Christie's Amsterdam held a five-day auction that made international headlines — over 150,000 pieces of porcelain and 125 gold ingots, sold under the name "The Nanking Cargo." This bowl was one of them. The original Christie's lot label remains on the base, bearing the iconic fish motif and the words that tie this object directly to that historic sale.

The bowl itself is a fine example of what collectors call "Batavian ware" — named after Batavia (modern-day Jakarta), the Dutch East India Company's trading hub in Southeast Asia, where this style was especially popular. The exterior is covered in a warm café au lait glaze, an iron-oxide brown with a soft, almost caramel warmth to it. Turn the bowl over in your hands and the interior reveals a completely different world: a hand-painted blue and white landscape unfolds across the walls — a scholar seated at his table beneath pine trees, mountains rising behind him, rocks and foliage framing the scene. On the opposite side, a small boat drifts across still water beneath a flight of geese. At the centre, a single peony bloom sits inside a delicate roundel. The rim is bordered with a continuous geometric trellis band, a hallmark of Nanking Cargo porcelain.

Every brushstroke was laid down by a Jingdezhen potter in 1751, working with cobalt blue on raw porcelain before it entered the kiln. This is “釉下青花” — underglaze blue — the technique that made Jingdezhen the porcelain capital of the world. The confident, fluid linework of the trees, the soft washes of the distant mountains, the tiny crosshatching on the trellis border — all speak of a craftsman painting quickly but with practiced assurance, producing export ware by the thousands yet still leaving his individual hand visible in every stroke.

Origin: Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, China
Era: Qianlong Period, c. 1751 (sank January 3, 1752)
Type: Batavian Ware / Café au Lait exterior with blue and white interior
Decoration: Hand-painted underglaze blue landscape with scholar, pine trees, mountains, fishing boat, geese; central peony medallion; trellis rim border
Exterior: Café au lait (iron-oxide brown) glaze
Function: Slop bowl (used for rinsing teacups between different teas)
Provenance: Recovered from the wreck of the VOC ship Geldermalsen (The Nanking Cargo), salvaged 1985 by Captain Michael Hatcher; sold Christie's Amsterdam, April–May 1986
Label: Original Christie's "The Nanking Cargo" lot label on base

Dimensions:
Height: 2.75" (7 cm)
Diameter: 6" (15 cm)

Condition:
Very good condition for a shipwreck recovery piece of this age. The blue and white interior painting is vivid and well-preserved. The café au lait exterior glaze is even and intact. There is one small chip on the foot ring — consistent with the conditions of maritime salvage and commonly found on Nanking Cargo pieces. A few minor fleabites to the rim. No cracks, no repairs, no restoration. The original Christie's Nanking Cargo lot label is present on the base, with some edge wear but text and fish motif clearly legible. A remarkable survivor — 274 years old, 233 of them spent on the ocean floor.

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