Griffin: On the Route of an Indiaman

In this publication, Franck Goddio presents the results of fifteen years patient research, restoration and preservation work on the thousands of items found on the wreck of the Honourable East India Company ship, the Griffin. The ship was part of a convoy sailing along a little-known sea route sometimes used as a shortcut. It was charged with a clandestine mission crucial to the expansion policy which the East India Company was aggressively, if discreetly, pursuing at that time. The minute restoration, documentation and comparison of the remains of this shipwreck cast new light on European trading patterns, but above all on our knowledge of the great Chinese art of porcelain manufacture and decoration and its master artists. The excavation proved a massive undertaking, requiring a sizeable team, 420 days of work onsite and a total of 15 years to complete. The book is lavishly illustrated with photographs, maps and archival material, and contains a complete inventory of the porcelain found on the wreck site.