Sunken treasure evokes images of gold bars or silver coins strewn over the ocean floor or chests of jewels and gems from pirates plunder, but over the last few decades the words have also come to represent something else - ceramics. At one time ceramics, mainly from China, were carried in large quantities around the islands of S.E. Asia and also to Europe and Africa. Inevitably, some of these cargoes never reached their destination. Whenever a ship goes down, much of the cargo that goes down with it will be destroyed. However, ceramics, protected by high-fired glazes, can remain underwater for many centuries. Most of these ships did not carry cargos of Imperial Chinese porcelains, but rather, were loaded with everyday plates, bowls and vases destined for markets around the world. These pieces are individually hand thrown and representative of the style and era in which they were created. This pot, which we call a "shipwreck ceramic," was salvaged from the bottom of the Java Sea in Indonesia. It originated in China and held foodstuffs before it went down to the watery depths. Over the nearly 400 years it was at the bottom of the sea, the glaze wore off, but it remained intact; establishing its true value as sunken treasure.