Dating to first half of 17th century AD (1608)

A fine blue and white porcelain glazed dish, finely decorated with two Phoenixes to the centre flanked by trees. Beneath is a large chrysanthemum, surrounded by fish scale decoration and oval cartouches with sprays of flowers and blossoms. The phoenix is a symbol of peace and prosperity.

The piece is a fine, early example of Vietnamese export ware with a fascinating history.

The Bin Thuan wreck was discovered approximately 40 miles off the coast of Binh Thuan Province in southern Vietnam, by a fisherman in early 2001, who was trying to unravel a net caught in the wreckage. The junk of the unfortunate merchant, I Sin Ho, who was transporting a cargo of silk, ceramics, Zhangzhou porcelain (or Swatow porcelain), cast-iron pans and Chinese goods from China around 1600, to trade with the Dutch who had set up a base in Johor, when his ship sank in 1608 off the south of Vietnam.

Dr Michael Flecker, an Australian maritime archaeologist led the excavation of the ship in 2002. During the salvage operations, nearly 20,000 pieces of early 17th century blue and white ceramics from Zhangzhou were recovered. In March 2004, approximately 900 ceramics were sold at auction in 2004 by Christie’s Australia in Melbourne raising more than A$2 million. The majority of the proceeds were used for the construction of a museum in Binh Thuan Province. Binh Thuan dish which has lost its original stickers.

Provenance: Ex H. N. Collection, Milton Keynes, collected in 1990’s.

Repair to rim otherwise a nice example with strong colour and fine detail.

Size: 276mm diam