O’REILLYS Fine Jewellery, Watches & Silver Auction Starting 24th August 2022 at 1pm

6 TIMED ONLINE AUCTION OF FINE JEWELLERY, WATCHES & SILVER • WEDNESDAY, 24th AUGUST 2022 AT 1PM NANKING CARGO CHINESE EXPORT PORCELAIN In 1752 the Dutch East India Company ship the Geldersmalsen sunk off the coast of the South China Sea. On her maiden voyage the cargo ship was on her homeward journey to the Netherlands. The Geldersmalsen left Canton in December 1751 and only sixteen days into its journey crashed into a reef. Carrying vast amounts of cargo to be sold off in the Netherlands, it was transpor ting over 150,000 pieces of porcelain as well as raw silks, tea, bronze and gold. Bought for very little in China, the Dutch would have used this beautifully decorated Chinese porcelain as ships ballast and upon their return home to the then European superpower the upper and middle-class Dutch were eager to get their hands on such items. The shipwreck was discovered in 1985 by captain Michael Hatcher a British explorer and marine salvor and after 235 years submerged in seawater the salvaged contents were auctioned by Christies in 1986 in Amsterdam. The porcelain cargo on board had originally been made in the Southeast Chinese province of Jiangxi and was shipped to Nanking to be loaded on to the Geldersmalsen. Lot 498 in our August 2022 Sale is a blue and white porcelain bowl from the Nanking Cargo ship. Set on a footring, it is approximately 15.3cm in diameter and 7.5cm in height, it is decorated in Imari style floral motifs set between an interwoven swirling pattern which runs continuously around the inside and outside of the bowl meeting in a concentric swirl at the base of the inside.