Glazed stoneware bowls in the shape of parrots with a leaf in the well of each bowl and the details of the birds painted in underglaze cobalt blue oxide and enamel colors.

Fruit-shaped Cups with Parrot-shaped Handles

Vietnam

15th - 16th century

These bowls were part of the cargo of a vessel that sunk off the coast of Vietnam in the late 15th century. On board were over 300,000 pieces of Vietnamese ceramics. When the cargo was raised in the late 1990s, many new heretofore-unknown shapes were discovered (such as a parrot-shaped bowl), greatly increasing our knowledge of Vietnamese ceramics.