Page 282 - Vol_2_Archaeology of Manila Galleon Seaport Trade

256 K. Castillo and P. Fournier

merchants and is characterized for showing a great variability in quality and having
innovative designs, some of which shared some stylistic features with
Hispano-Moresque wares. These features include the presence of a central motif
surrounded by panels featuring different designs in them (Canepa 2008: 17, 28, 48;
Kuwayama 1997: 17). Zhangzhou export blue on white porcelain made in the
Fujian province was meant to supply China’s old customers in Asia and seems to
have been sent to New Spain at the end of the Ming dynasty and during the Qing
dynasty. It was generally coarser than the porcelain made at the imperial kilns and is
characterized by its rough !nish, often showing sand adhered to the bottom of the
pieces, and by having bold, spontaneous designs arranged in panels (Kuwayama
1997: 18; Tan 2007: 14–15).

15.4 Ceramic Production in Colonial Mexico

Majolica, a tin-glazed ceramic, was introduced into Mexico by the Spaniards in the
Early Colonial period. This type of pottery requires two !ring processes, one to
create the ceramic body, and another to adhere the lead-based glaze to the body of
the vessel. Soon after the conquest of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, pottery
workshops producing majolica were established in Puebla and Mexico City, where
Spanish potters made the ceramic with which they were familiar at home. Spanish
majolica was itself enmeshed in a complex network of influences that included the
Islamic ceramic tradition, Chinese porcelain, and the Italian majolica of the
Renaissance (Lister and Lister 2001: 21), which in turn permeated the emerging
majolica tradition that was developing in the New World. From the beginning,
Colonial Mexican majolica was integrated into the global networks of the Early
Modern world not only in terms of its decoration, but also in its materiality. Many
of the oxides needed for its production were scarce or unavailable in the Americas,
such were the cases of tin and cobalt, which were brought from Europe
(Pleguezuelo 2007: 28; Lister and Lister 2001: 81).
In New Spain, porcelain and other Asian goods that were transported in the
Manila Galleon became associated with wealth and a high social status. For the elite
of New Spain it was important to demonstrate their honor, prestige, and wealth
through material culture and an appropriate behavior (Zárate Toscano 2005: 325).
Porcelain represented a link with faraway lands that were inaccessible for the
majority and its high price compared to other ceramic wares ensured that only a
small part of the population could afford it, thus becoming a marker of prestige and
status (Castillo Cárdenas 2013: 50–53; Fournier 2013: 69; Fournier and Charlton
2015: 47–48; Slack 2012: 106). This motivated the emulation of porcelain by the
Spanish potters producing tin-glazed majolica in colonial Mexico (Lister and Lister
1972: 22).