Chain of Custody

The discovery of pottery and other artefacts off the coast of Binh Thuan. Image: https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/silk-road-themes/underwater-heritage/binh-thuan-1608

A recent sale from our collection of extraordinary objects got me thinking about histories of the things we live with. Rarely do we buy something just because we like it. We dig deeper, trawl through the history of the object’s design or production, looking for the back story that adds to the interest of the piece. Whenever possible, we share these stories with buyers in our descriptions. Most often, this is in relation to mid-century, or perhaps art deco pieces with an interesting tale to tell. We only occasionally seek out what might be called antiques.

This object was different, and has quite the story dating back to the early 1600s.

A Chinese junk, laden with porcelain for trade with the Dutch East India Company and captained by ill-fated merchant I Sin Ho sank off the coast of Vietnam in July 1608. Its cargo of Zhangzhou porcelain, cast iron bowls, silks and other goods came to rest on the murky ocean floor and lay undisturbed for over 4 centuries, until a group of fisherman discovered her around around 1999-2000 and began (illegally) selling artefacts. The bounty was soon confiscated and the official process of recovery and salvage began.

The bowl from the Binh Thuan shipwreck has been purchased by an Australian collector.

Once recovered, the excavated artefacts were jointly handled by the Binh Thuan People's Committee and the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, and were carefully catalogued. The majority of pieces were retained for museums, with the remainder being auctioned by Christie's in Melbourne 1-3 March 2004. Funds raised from the auction were used to support archaeological activities in the region. 

One bowl found its way into our collection, and brought with it this amazing history and the blue-and-white designs typical of the period and the Zhangzhou kilns. Each piece from the shipwreck is unique - painters took a free and spontaneous approach in applying the same design concept.

We consider ourselves part of the chain of custody for the stunning objects in our care, and we’ve now passed it on to its new custodian, a collector in Victoria.

I wonder where it will be in another 400 years?