Chinese Carved Soapstone Miniature Bowl and Lidded Vessel Group

Each standing erect on a chamfered base wearing a floor-length robe and with elaborately dressed hair, right hand at the waist and left hand raised to the shoulder supporting a wreath and a bowl of fruit. 989 grams total, 22.2 - 22.7 cm



Ex West Country, UK, collection, 1980-1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Comprising six shallow plates with flowers to the centre enclosed within a double border, small stylised flowers to the outer face. 1.33 kg total, 15-16.5 cm



Ex Nagel Auction, with official Tek Sing Treasure labels to verso. Accompanied by an illustrated information sheet about the Tek Sing shipwreck.

The Tek Sing (True Star) wreck is one of the famous recovery stories of the 20th century. Sailing from the port of Xiamen (then known as Amoy) in February 1822 the vessel Tek Sing was bound for Jakarta, Indonesia laden with porcelain goods and 1600 Chinese emigrants. The captain decided to pass through the Gaspar Strait, between the Bangka-Belitung Islands, and ran aground on a reef. The vessel sank in about 100 feet of water. The next morning, February 7, an English East Indiaman captained by James Pearl, passing through the same waters, encountered debris and some survivors and managed to rescue about 190 of the latter.

Hollow-formed two-part trinket dish formed as a stylised mal face with blue-glazed hair and eyebrows, red-brown lips and chrysanthemum diadem; the exaggerated lentoid section nose forming the lid's handle; modelled as the king of Tengeu. 367 grams, 11.4 cm



From a private Tyneside collection, formed since the early 2000s.