Chinese Porcelains of the Early 18 th Century from the Commander Islands, Northwest Pacific: Archaeometry Study

Abstract

The article presents recent results derived from the study of a unique porcelain wares assemblage discovered during archaeological excavations of the site of the Commander Islands’ temporary camp of the Great Northern Expedition headed by Vitus Bering. The camp was occupied in 1741-1742. The porcelain assemblage is small and fragmented, but it is interesting because of its varied and impressive decoration patterns, in particular, colorful painting. Preliminarily, the excavated wares were supposed to be Chinese production and date back to the early 18 th century. The research goal is to interpret the porcelain assemblage based mostly on the wares’ technological characteristics and using some methods of archaeometry adopted in modern studies of old Chinese porcelain. The obtained results confirm the Chinese origin of porcelain. It is revealed that the assemblage reflects some of the major trends in the development of Chinese porcelain technologies between the end of the 17 th and early part of the 18 th century. The considered assemblage contains the wares of the Famille Rose , Famille Verte , and Powder Blue , which are famous and valuable Chinese porcelain.