Description: Chinese blue and white porcelain dish Late 18th century A large blue and white porcelain dish, the interior painted with flowers, rim fittings. Diameter 33 cm China, late 18th Century Provenace: Diana Cargo Diana Cargo Shipwreck Story ”The Diana” was owned by Palmer and Co. a powerful Calcutta ship owner and was licensed by the English East India Company to sail from Calcutta or Madras to Canton, carrying cotton and of course, opium, which was extremely lucrative. The ship would then return to India from China, laden with silks, tea, preserved fruits and thousands of pieces of beautiful blue and white porcelain. Unfortunately The Diana was on one of these voyages when, on the 14th of March 1816, she hit some rocks off the Straits of Malacca and sank. The wreck was identified and recovered in 1994 by Dorian Ball of Malaysian Historical Salvors. The porcelain cargo auctioned by Christies Amsterdam in March 1995.
