Synopses & Reviews
In this publication Franck Goddio presents the final results and conclusions of fifteen years of patient efforts of research, restoration and preservation of the thousands of items found on the wreck of the honourable East India Company ship Griffin, which sank with a cargo of porcelain, silks and tea in the Sulu Sea in 1761. The Griffin was part of a convoy sailing along a so far little known and inventive alternative sea route, and accompanied a secret mission of the up most importance for the policy of expansion which the East India Company aggressively, if discreetly, pursued at the time. The minute restoration, documentation and comparison of the vestiges of this shipwreck cast new light on European trading patterns, but above all on our knowledge of the great Chinese art of porcelain manufacture and decoration and its master artists
Synopsis
In this publication, Franck Goddio presents the results of fifteen years patient research, restoration and preservation work on the thousands of items found on the wreck of the Honourable East India Company ship, the Griffin.
The ship was part of a convoy sailing along a little-known sea route sometimes used as a shortcut. It was charged with a clandestine mission crucial to the expansion policy which the East India Company was aggressively, if discreetly, pursuing at that time.
The minute restoration, documentation and comparison of the remains of this shipwreck cast new light on European trading patterns, but above all on our knowledge of the great Chinese art of porcelain manufacture and decoration and its master artists.
The excavation proved a massive undertaking, requiring a sizeable team, 420 days of work onsite and a total of 15 years to complete.
The book is lavishly illustrated with photographs, maps and archival material, and contains a complete inventory of the porcelain found on the wreck site.