A Cargo of Chinese Porcelain from a Shipwreck in the Red Sea

The Umm Lajj wreck belongs to a merchant ship of about 40 metres in length, probably built in the Northern Red Sea, which sank around the mid-18th century. The cargo consisted of a thousand jars and some huge storage vessels, probably serving for the transport of water and foodstuffs, as well as hundreds of small Chinese porcelain cups and bowls. It is precisely study of this cargo of Chinese porcelain – the focus of this article – that proved fundamental for the dating of the wreck and to advance some hypotheses about the route it sailed on.