15th Century Vietnamese Hoi An Hoard Ceramic Dish. Blue-and-white designs on the inside and outside, label affixed to bottom with the index number "114679." 

Size: 2 x 9 3/4 x 9 3/4 in. 

The Hội An shipwreck, discovered by fishermen in the early 1990s, is located in the South China Sea off the coast of central Vietnam. The ship carried a massive cargo of mid-to-late 15th Century Vietnamese ceramics produced in the Red River Delta kilns, now frequently known as the Hoi An Hoard. After years of intensive looting, a formal excavation was conducted between 1996 and 1999 by a team including the Vietnamese National Salvage Corporation and Oxford University archaeologists, a complex operation conducted at a depth of 230 feet that recovered nearly 300,000 artifacts at an estimated cost of $14 million. While much of the cargo consisted of everyday tableware, numerous unique items of high artistic value were selected for Vietnam’s National Collection and displayed in six local museums. The remaining 90% of the recovered pottery was sold at a major auction by Butterfields in San Francisco in 2000 to fund further curation and study, and the pieces continue to reveal fascinating details of life in the early Joseon Kingdom. 

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