*Please Note. This price excludes the cost of carriage which will be an additional �19.00 within the UK. Worldwide shipping available.**Please Note. Christies Sale catalogue not included*Hand painted in a rich cobalt blue with trailing foliage. During the manufacture, this spittoon would have been decorated with enamelled flowers amongst the foliage, but having spent hundreds of years submerged beneath the sea, this part of the decoration has worn away. The cobalt blue remains as this was applied beneath the glaze.It you look closely, when tilted in the light, you can see traces of the floral detail in a ghost style form. This spittoon is one of only eighty sold by Christies so they are quite rare. The British Museum holds a blue and white example which shows a complete patternCondition: There is a small chip restoration to the rim which is noticeable only on close inspection, we have included images showing this. Although they are of unusual use, they are decorative and of elegant shape. Size: Height: 8.5cm Diameter: 12.3cmProvenance: This piece can be checked against the Christies Amsterdam sale catalogue of Monday 28th April-Friday 2nd May 1986. Scanned pages from the sale catalogue relating to this spittoon will be supplied with the sale for reference.The Nanking cargo is the most famous of the shipwreck cargoes. It attracted world wide media attention when it was auctioned by Christies Amsterdam in April 1986.The ships name was ''The Geldermalsen'' belonging to the Dutch East India Company. The (VerenigdeOostIndische Compagnie (V.O.C).She set sail from Canton on December 18th 1751 bound for Amsterdam. The valuable cargo consisted of over 160,000 pieces of porcelain, tea, raw silk, textiles and one hundred and forty five gold ingots.On January 3rd 1752, after 16 days sailing the Geldermalsen hit a reef and sank in the South China Sea.The cargo was recovered by Captain Michael Hatcher and his team in 1985-86, s...