Accession Number

1986.008.0845

Alternate object names

Bowl

Creation Date

circa 1620

Description

A fine-grade, two-handled porringer comes from the wreck of the 1622 galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha. The porringer functioned as somewhere between a cup and a bowl. The thick, tin-based enamel has a mixed blue/gray marbled pattern, and it is still lustrous despite the centuries underwater. The porringer is 5.1 centimeters high and 16.2 centimeters across the handles.

Exhibition Label

Case Caption (2023):

HOUSEHOLD CERAMICS

Pottery in all its forms was made throughout South America since pre-historic times. It was often painted or decorated with incised designs, but glazing was unknown. Archaeological evidence indicates that Indigenous potters adopted glazing from European artisans once they learned the process. They also freely adapted European designs for their own ceramics while producing dinnerware and other basic forms useful to the colonists.

Most of the ceramics found on the 1622 fleet were made in Spain. However, in the colonies, Panama became particularly known for its production of majolica (tin-glazed ceramics), and there was also a major pottery in Lima.
Object Caption (2023):

Porringer
Majolica (c.1620)
Gift of Jamestown Inc.
1986.008.0845