Historic Insights from Sunken Treasure
Researchers found museum-worthy treasures from an “extraordinary” shipwreck off the coast of Norway.
Antique porcelain can turn up in unexpected places, like an attic or thrift store. How about underwater? An 18th-century shipwreck off the coast of Norway has yielded its first artifacts, including a trove of blue-and-white Chinese porcelain.
Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, Norway’s Minister of Climate and Environment, called the find “extraordinary.” Nicknamed the Porcelain Wreck, it is 600 meters (almost 1,000 feet) deep in the Skagerrak, a strait between Norway and Denmark. It was discovered by Espen Saastad, who owns the Saastad Ur watch company and operates a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) and survey company. He is working with the Norwegian Maritime Museum to recover artifacts.
To study the shipwreck and retrieve its cargo, researchers went out to sea with a remotely operated drone. In addition to the porcelain, the researchers recovered items such as chandeliers believed to have been made in Germany or England, bottles, stemmed glassware, and grain. Based on the ship's structure, which appears to be a Northern European merchant ship called a galliot, it is believed to date to the 18th century, a conclusion supported by the porcelain.
“This marks a new era for Norwegian archaeology,” said Nina Refseth, Director of the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History Foundation. The Porcelain Wreck is the deepest shipwreck with the most intact cargo found in Norwegian waters. The Norwegian Maritime Museum is studying and conserving the retrieved cargo and has some on display in a pop-up exhibit.
The romance of sunken treasure makes shipwreck salvage exciting to researchers and collectors alike, but it’s also a valuable source of insight into the history of trade and decorative arts. For example, museum officials observed the class structures reflected by the ship’s cargo. At the time of the wreck, chandeliers were used by the upper class, but Chinese porcelain was accessible to the growing middle class.
Additional research on the wreck and its artifacts is in progress. Researchers hope to identify possible monograms on the porcelain and conduct DNA analysis of grain samples to determine where the ship came from and who its customers might have been. Further mysteries to be explored include how the ship sank and whether there were any survivors.
All images courtesy of Norwegian Maritime Museum.
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