Accession Number

1986.008.0193

Creation Date

circa 1620

Description

Cracked bowl. Ornate handle with bird head. Cross stamped in back of spoon bowl. Excellent condition. 

Exhibition Label

Case Caption (2023):

A COLONIST— DOÑA MARÍA DE AYALA

Doña María de Ayala had traveled from Spain to Potosí with her husband, Martin Salgado de Rivera, in 1615. High in the Andes, Potosí has cool, wet summers, icy winters, and sits on a barren plain. Everything the couple needed had to be carried up the mountains by llamas. María’s day would have been spent working with her servants to stretch household supplies, haggling with local traders for food and fuel, and mending linens and clothes that could not be readily replaced. Occasionally, floods and earthquakes would add to María’s troubles.

But her husband’s appointments had made them wealthy. When they sailed for Spain, they were accompanied by María’s maid, Catalina, and two very young, possibly Indigenous, servant girls. They all drowned aboard the Nuestra Señora de Atocha.
Object Caption (2023):

Spoon
Silver (c.1600)
Gift of Jamestown Inc.
1986.008.0193

Since medieval times, silver spoons have been a traditional gift for a child at baptism and such spoons were believed to ward off evil spirits. This spoon, rather informally stamped with a cross on the back of the bowl, might have been improvised as such a gift. Although it was not well understood at the time, silver had been recognized for its health supporting properties for centuries, so a gift of this sort would mean wishing the child health and prosperity.