A magnificent 'sea sculpture' from the Tek Sing shipwreck, dating to 1822.
The sea sculpture is formed of two porcelain plates, fused together after nearly two centuries on the ocean floor. Abundant marine life can be seen on this piece, including shells, the calcified remains of sea-worms and a large protruding area of coral formation.
Conditions had to be perfect for the development of these rare sea sculptures. In order to acquire such profuse incrustations of slow growing coral, shipwreck porcelain has to be positioned above the silt layer, in relatively shallow, clear waters and must lay undisturbed for at least a century.
The plates are fused together in the position they adopted after they hit the ocean floor in 1822. A fascinating, evocative display piece.
The Tek Sing
The Tek Sing is probably the most important Antique shipwreck ever discovered. This once magnificent vessel has rightly been compared to that most famous of ships, the Titanic. The Tek Sing, which means "True Star", was a Huge Trading Junk, measuring 165 feet long and weighing over 1000 tonnes. It left from Amoy in Southern China carrying the largest quantity of porcelain of any known wreck. The ship was destined for the port of Jakarta in Indonesia, from where the valuable cargo would be distributed to the lucrative Eastern and European markets. The Tek Sing also carried a human cargo - 1600 immigrants and nearly 400 crew and merchants. The immigrants were all Chinese, hoping to escape the Economic problems of Early 19th Century China, which were a prelude to the first Opium War.
An ill-fated decision by the Ship's captain to take a short-cut through the Gaspar Strait resulted in catastrophic damage to the ship, the death of 90% of those on board and the complete loss of its porcelain cargo to the cold waters of the South China Sea. The remnants of the Ship and its 190 surviving passengers were discovered the next morning by James Pearl and later recorded in Hursburgh's "Directions for sailing to the East Indies", 1848. The wreck was subsequently forgotten until its rediscovery in 1999 by salvage expert Michael Hatcher, who used Hursburgh's book of 1848 as his starting point! After this momentous discovery the precious porcelain cargo was carefully removed, conserved and eventually auctioned in 2000.
The recent ratifications of the UNESCO convention by South East Asian countries, mean that public-private operations, as were required to excavate the Tek Sing cargo and legitimately sell it on the market, are unlikely to ever be repeated. Consequently, shipwreck pieces such as this with an official provenance constitute a fantastic investment opportunity.
Length of sculpture: 10 1/4 inches.
Condition: Intact, unrestored.
Provenance:
Salvaged from the Tek Sing wreck in the early 1990's.
