Yuan-era porcelain makes ‘waves’ in Singapore waters

Forget buried treasure — in Singapore’s waters, the real riches arrived as shiploads of fine crockery. A maritime excavation has revealed the Temasek Wreck, a 14th-century trove from the Yuan dynasty era. Led by Michael Flecker of HeritageSG under the National Heritage Board, digs between 2016 and 2019 recovered 3.5 tonnes of ceramic shards and intact pieces, including an extraordinary cache of blue-and-white porcelain.

Porcelain jackpot

The wrek’s star cargo is 136 kg of Yuan blue-and-white ware from Jingdezhen — over 2,350 shards and several near-complete pieces — which Flecker calls unmatched in scale, with “superlative” quality evident even in fragments. Complementing this are Longquan celadons, Jingdezhen qingbai and shufu wares, Dehua whiteware, Fujian greenwares, and Cizao storage jars, showcasing mid-14th-century diversity from southern China’s kilns.

Rewriting history

The first ancient wreck found in Singapore’s waters, the cargo suggests a Chinese junk sailing from Quanzhou to Temasek, the bustling port that predates modern Singapore. The finds illuminate Yuan-era maritime networks when Jingdezhen's output, later peaking under Ming and Qing, fueled global trade. It also provides reference for dating ceramics across SE Asia.

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