Vietnamese Hoi An Hoard Lot of (3) Cu Lao Cham Shipwreck Annamese Blue Underglazed Porcelain Tea/Wine Cups (From an American Diplomat's Estate) - These (3) annamese tea cups 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. The cups are decorated in blue underglaze with a flower petal motif around the exterior and are similarly decorated on the interior along with central floral motifs. The cups are labeled with a Saga Visal Hoi An Hoard sticker on the bottom and are numbered 72436, 52735 and 58099. Ceramics from the Hoi An Hoard are regarded as some of the most precious and complete representations of Vietnamese artisanship in glazed ceramics. Measurements: 1.5"H x 2.75" diameter. Provenance: From the Estate of American Diplomat John Allen Tabor, a Foreign Service Officer with the United States Agency for International Development. Tabor spoke many languages, including Chinese, Malay, Thai, and Japanese, and amassed an impressive collection of more than 900 Southeast Asian ceramics during his second career in Southeast Asia in the 1960's. Mr. Tabor’s interest in Asian antiques began as a young man during World War II after acquiring temple relics from a Buddhist priest in China. His collecting passion for Asian ceramics was fueled during these years of work and travel, and he accumulated ceramics from locals, dealers and pickers, while others were gifts. The majority of Tabor's collection dates from the 11th-17th centuries, and he kept meticulous records annotating in a notebook and on a small piece of masking tape affixed to each object, the date of purchase and whatever information known at that time, many of which are still affixed to the objects in this sale.