The provenance of export porcelain from the Nan'ao One shipwreck in the South China Sea

The discovery of the Nan'ao One shipwreck off the southern coast of China throws new light onto Chinese maritime trade during the late Ming period. The primary cargo was a massive consignment of blue-and-white export porcelain, most probably destined for markets in Southeast Asia or Europe. Compositional analysis was performed on 11 fragments of blue-and-white export porcelain from the wreck site and on 64 samples from 3 Chinese porcelain production centres. The results indicate that the blue-and-white export porcelain recovered from the Nan'ao One came from two sources: the Jingdezhen and Zhangzhou kilns. Given the location of the shipwreck, the most probable destinations were the Portuguese trading centre at Macau or the Dutch at Batavia.