£300 - £400
Dutch East Indiaman Witte Leeuw 1613 St Helena A Wan Li Chinese blue and white porcelain bowl with incised decoration 22cm We read: St. Helena - a tiny British possession in the centre of the South Atlantic. Only 55 kilometres square, it was the prison of Napoleon Bonaparte between 1815 & 1821. A convenient staging post for ships homeward from India because of abundant fresh water, meat and vegetables. In 1613, two Portuguese 'nau', or fast freighters, the 'Casa da Nossa Senhora da Nazare' and the Conceicao' entered Jamestown Bay for fresh water, and anchored. Five Dutch East Indiamen came in later, and led by the 'Witte Leeuw' or 'White Lion', attacked the two enemy ships. The Portuguese warped the 'Nazare' round, and with a broadside, sank the 'White Lion' The wreck was located in 1976 by Robert Stenuit in 100ft of water. Bronze cannon bearing the V.O.C. motif identified the wreck, from which came hundreds of intact items of porcelain of the Chinese Ming Emperor period Wan Li. The item below, a Kraak porcelain dish, has survived underwater for 363 years, packed in peppercorns.
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