Page 260 - Vol_2_Archaeology of Manila Galleon Seaport Trade

232 P. Fournier and R. Junco Sanchez

of the indigenous elites who emulated consumer behaviors of those of European
descent, copied their tastes for Asian commodities and owned porcelain table sets
(Machuca 2012: 95).
Beyond the cost, it must be emphasized that to reinforce the identity of the
individuals and the construction of the subject by purchasing and consuming certain
kinds of goods to which other people did not have access, the individuals generated
new social needs. Consequently, the identities of social groups were expressed in
the possession of various objects. Asian commodities and in our case Chinese
porcelains as part of the material culture constituted social products, bearers of
meanings and knowledge that contributed to create society through the actions of
individuals and to structure the actions of the subjects in their everyday life. Thus,
this kind of material culture mediates human action and, consequently, porcelain
objects were manipulated and negotiated in social relations (Dellino-Musgrave
2006).
Asian commodities had great impact in Europe and in Spanish domains such as
New Spain because of their aesthetic values, since they came from distant lands
where beautiful things were produced, objects worthy of possessing and to incor-
porate into everyday life. They also represented nexuses with a wide world that was
within reach and, for some, of their purchasing power, indicators of the fortune of
their users and worthy of exhibiting in the homes of the economically favored. In
fact, porcelain pieces that were usually expensive symbolized a positive relation-
ship with the orb (Brook 2008: 82). These ceramics were a form of exchange both
cultural and economic that allowed the subjects to experience another culture and
realize that it existed, in a process that developed the notions of self-identity and the
otherness (Pierson 2012: 12).
We may conclude that Asian goods were symbols of status and global taste. Our
archaeological evidence reflects conspicuous consumption of well-to-do people or
of those who pretended to be affluent, and to a lesser extent of all members of the
society of New Spain, deeply divided by rank, social class, blood purity, and skin
color.

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