Verbal Description Transcript

Cluster of Porcelain Fragments and Coral from a Shipwreck, circa the 17th or early 18th century. Made up of Chinese porcelain, Pocillopora coral, and Melithaeidae (Gorgonacea) coral. The object is 8 ¾ inches tall, 8 ½ inches wide, and 7 inches deep. The object will be described as if you are standing in front of its label. This artifact is composed of Chinese porcelain dishes and the natural materials that formed around them after a shipwreck. The base of the object is made of hardened sediment and coral. It is a light brown sandy color, rough and hard, but porous with tiny holes throughout. A cluster of white plates with traditional blue Chinese designs of landscapes, florals, and birds, stick up vertically out of pale hardened sediment and coral. The plates are small, the size of a saucer one would set a teacup on. They are chipped and scuffed, with a significant portion missing from the frontmost plate. Behind the plates, cups and small bowls are wedged into the sediment. All of the cups and bowls are at downward angles, with sediment filling their open spaces. They all are decorated with the same blue on white design, except for two cups stacked upside down on the right side of the object, which are a warm brown on the outside with white bottoms. In front of the plates are several pieces of bright orange coral, sticking upright out of the sediment. They are thicker at the base and become smaller as they go up and branch out. They have the vivid coloring of marigolds, with bumpy nodules covering their surface. With time, some of the tips of the fragile coral have broken off- they now lie around the object.