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- 1613. Almost all the kraak wares from St. Helena had reverse decoration confined to diamonds and dots or one of the eight precious Buddhist items roughly drawn in vertically divided panels, occasionally in ogival panels and occasionally separated by tassels. These are the usual reverse decorations to be found in Groups V and VI.
As regards the dating of the groups, Group I presents no difficulty as several examples of this group have Jiajing marks and, therefore, a dating from 1550-1570 is suggested. The vast majority of Group II have decoration on the reverse of a zig-zag peach branch (found on some Longqing (1567-1572) pieces) occasionally combined with a bird or a five-petalled flower blossom with tendrils, a reverse also relatively commonly found in Group I. In view of this, Group II is assigned a tentative dating from 1560-1580.
The majority of Group 111 have decoration on the reverse of a bird or two birds on a two- or three-trunked tree, occasionally confined in vertical segments alternating with floral sprays. Whilst this reverse decoration is occasionally found in Group II, its use also continued into Group IV. However, it was not found on any pieces from the Witte Leeuw wreck. I therefore suggest a dating of 1575-1600 for Group III. Whilst in some examples of Group IV, the similar reverse decoration is similar to Group III, in general the decoration on the reverse of Groups IV, V and VI is more closely allied to that of the Witte Leeuw finds. I therefore have put dates on Group IV of 1590-1610; on Group V, from 1600-1615; on Group VI, from 1605-1625; and on Group VII, from 1625-1640.
(3/9/91)
xi Sherds
Chinese blue and white porcelain from the Dutch shipwreck, Witte Leeuw (1613) Private Collection
xi Fragments de bleu et blanc de l'epave du navire neerlandais Witte Leeuw
(1613)
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