Accession Number

1986.008.1110

Creation Date

circa 1620

Description

Intact earthenware olive jar that has been cross-mended and is partially encrusted.

Exhibition Label

Case/Object Caption (2023):

Olive Jars
Earthenware (c.1620)
Gift of Jamestown Inc., Museum Purchase Fund
1986.008.0841, 1986.008.0852, 1986.008.0891, 1986.008.1106-7,
1986.008.1110, 2004.006.0002-11

Spanish galleons are particularly known for their profusion of earthenware containers. Varying in size, these held items that ranged from water and wine to medicine and even olives. Sealed with a wooden bung at the top, they were watertight, and their shape made it easy to stack them on a lower deck, leaning against each other and not likely to roll.

Some people marked their jars with their logos to make sure they received the right goods. While many broken jars were found on the wreck sites of the Nuestra Señora de Atocha and the Santa Margarita, the intact jars came from a smaller ship in the fleet, the Buen Jesus.