Page 269 - Vol_2_Archaeology of Manila Galleon Seaport Trade

242 R. Junco Sanchez et al.

Mexican independence forces commanded by José María Morelos, San Blas
became for a short time, the headquarters of the Manila Galleons trade and when
they disappeared in 1815, the port continued receiving private ships that kept it
connected to the Asian markets, until later, it lost relevance due to the growth of
other port settlements such as Mazatlan, Guaymas and San Francisco.

14.2 The Porcelain Collection from Archaeological Work
at San Blas

SAS-INAH has been working towards, an archaeology of Manila Galleons since
1999. This comprises the study of all places and materials related to the transpaci!c
trade among other topics (Junco 2011). During 2016 and 2017 Archaeologists from
the SAS-INAH, visited San Blas, and conducted a series of !eld surveys at the
Contaduria complex, which resulted in a small collection of Chinese porcelain, that
together with a dozen sherds collected by archaeologist Bracamontes (Fournier and
Bracamontes 2010) for his Master degree dissertation, resulted in a joint collection
of 287 sherds. Other materials such as English ceramics and Mexican majolica were
documented and currently being studied. The Contaduria is the main defensive part
of the port, on top of a mountain overlooking the river that makes the port. The
complex comprises a church dedicated to the Virgin of El Rosario, a hospital,
several houses in stone of which some of the walls remain. During the survey,
archaeological materials were collected and its relative position was taken with
GPS. In the lab, the archaeological materials were separated into groups of which
one was Chinese ceramics. The survey is a preliminary attempt to dimension and
begin an archaeological project in the port with an archaeological maritime focus,
excavating both on land and underwater.
In regard to the porcelain that makes the collection from San Blas, the quantity
and types of Chinese ceramics are limited. This is not to say that future archaeo-
logical work will enlarge the collection considerably and give more insights into the
life and commerce of the port. To this day, the most common type of Chinese
Porcelain in the collection is landscapes, a type which later developed as the
“willow pattern” type. They are dishes produced in Jingdezhen and appear in
various parts of the world in the 18th century. The second most numerous type, is
the blue and white Jingdezhen, and thirdly the most common type are bowls painted
in red over the glaze. The remains are what we call “Guanzai” with varieties in the
shapes. The types that can be classi!ed vary from the mid-seventeenth to the
nineteenth. It means that there was some kind of movement of the Asian genres
since before the establishment of San Blas as a Maritime Department.
1. The earliest type present in the San Blas collection is “Kraak”. The term
“Kraak” describes ceramics of various shapes with eight to ten horizontal
panels dividing motifs with dots, flowers, tassels, representing drawings of