Vietnamese Hoi An Hoard Pair of Cu Lao Cham Shipwreck Annamese Blue Underglazed Porcelain Bowls - This pair of annamese bowls are artifacts from the Cu Lao Cham shipwreck, which took place off the Hoi An coast of Vietnam in the South China Sea when a trading vessel filled with mid to late 15th century porcelain vanished without a trace. The wreck was discovered approximately 500 years later in the early 1990s when fishermen began finding broken porcelain in their nets. The excavation began in 1996 and took four years and over 250,000 intact ceramic artefacts were recovered. According to the contract with the Vietnamese government, all pieces unique to the cargo were retained by the government while the remaining 90% was sold at auction in 2000 by Butterfields in San Francisco and grossed over $2.8 million. These bowls are decorated on the exterior with scrolled foliate details and ogee panels in underglazed blue, and on the interior with a central floral motif and foliate trim around the rim. They are both labeled with a Saga Visal Hoi An Hoard sticker on the bottom and are numbered 179514 and 177848. This piece has excellent investment potential, as it is thought by experts around the world and avid collectors that due to the rapid modernization of Vietnam, Vietnamese antiques will within the next ten years be more valuable than Chinese antiques. According to some of the most expert collectors in the world, what used to sell for hundreds are now selling for tens of thousands. Ceramics from the Hoi An Hoard are regarded as some of the most precious and complete representations of Vietnamese artisanship in glazed ceramics. Measurements: 3.25"H x 5.5" diameter and 3"H x 5.25" diameter.