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Cluster of porcelain fragments and coral from a shipwreck

Dateca. 17th or early 18th century

Label TextThis artifact was found by a fishing vessel and then confiscated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage, Alaska. The location of the shipwreck where it came from is unknown. The ceramics encased by coral and ocean sediment is known in the West as “Batavian ware,” after the capital of the Dutch East Indies (1800–1949) in present-day Jakarta, Indonesia. A work of contemporary art by Michelle Erickson displayed nearby meditates on this subject of the maritime porcelain trade.

Object number2014.18

Photo CreditPhoto: Nathaniel Willson

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Chronicles of a Global East, Oct. 20, 2022 - Oct. 22, 2023.

Credit LineGift of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Anchorage, Alaska

Dimensions8 3/4 x 8 1/2 x 7 in. (22.2 x 21.6 x 17.8 cm)

MediumPocillopora coral, porcelain, and Melithaeidae (Gorgonacea) coral