Doe and Hope

Description

Recovered from the Thai merchant ship ‘Royal Nanhai’ which sunk in 1460, with the wreck being discovered at a depth of 46 meters, 40 nautical miles offshore from Kuantan, West Malaysia, the iron glazed stoneware ceramic jar being partially enveloped with sea-bed encrustations having four ring handles, and surviving from fifteenth century Thailand.

There are lime deposits and root marks amongst the encrustations present on the jar. Intact, though missing its lid, this evocative piece of salvage is in as found, original condition with some mis-shapeness to one side of the top. The seabed encrustations remain undisturbed and when in the sea, these encrustations protect treasures that are hundreds of years old.

From the kilns of Si Satchanalai in the Kingdom of Sukhothai, this iron glazed stoneware ceramic jar is about 550 years old. It was recovered from the Royal Nanhai shipwreck, a junk bound for Indonesia that sank off the coast of Malaysia. The ship was loaded with some 20,000 ceramic vessels, including the finest 15thC celadon wares and stoneware from Sukhothai ever seen. The discovery shows the success of the Si Satchanalai kilns in supplying this trade. Only about 20% of the cargo was recoverable, with 2,000 pieces going to the National Museum in Kuala Lumpur, and most intact pieces have now been acquired by museums and private collectors around the world.

A rare opportunity to own an ancient recovered treasure.