Hand-painted Majolica
Paste type: refined earthenware
Paste color: cream/buff
Surface finish: tin-glazed
Surface decoration: hand-painted
Hand-painted spongeware
Paste type: refined earthenware
Paste color: cream/buff
Surface finish: tin-glazed
Surface decoration: spongeware
Transfer-ware majolica
Paste type: refined earthenware
Paste color: cream/buff
Surface finish: tin-glazed
Surface decoration: transferware
Majolica is a tin-glazed ceramic typical of Spain and its colonies. The wares were originally imported from Iberia, but several New World production centers were set up beginning in the sixteenth century. Iberia, and later to the other manufacturing centers of Mexico City and Puebla, made Spanish majolica ubiquitous across New Spain. They were not only a symbol of Spanish ethnicity; they were also symbols of material wealth and status. By the end of the sixteenth century, Spanish imports declined and locally produced majolica wares were on the rise. Panama Vieja, in the Viceroyalty of Peru, began producing Majolica in the late sixteenth or very early seventeenth century. It was one of many New Spanish production centers meant to create these ceramic products of homeland Spain. Panama Vieja wares are easy to identify because they have "a bright brick red paste " (Lister and Lister 1974:44 in Jamieson 2001: 48). Specifically in Cuenca, Ecuador, multiple excavations have unearthed a vast amount of Panama Vieja wares. They were traded extensively throughout the Andres. However, locally made majolica was absent from these contexts.
Little is known about the local production centers. Florence and Robert Lister suggested that the end of Panama Vieja majolica production was the catalyst for local manufacturing (1974: 47-48 in Jamieson 2001: 54). They have suggested that the earliest Andean majolica production began in the mid-eighteenth century in centers such as Cuenca, Quito, and Lima. Cuenca ceramics have reddish-yellow to pink colored paste. The background tin-glaze is unevenly applied with green and/or brown decorations. In addition, excavations were conducted at a house in Lima and majolicas were collected; the glazes and decorations were very similar to Panamanian wares, but the pastes differed in color. No mention as to how they differed was provided.
In regards to the area of El Azucar, it is situated relatively close to an important center in Ecuadorian history, Santa Elena. Santa Elena was a city in which Spanish ships stopped to gather new supplies. It was not a major trade center, but it was connected to Guayaquil, a major port during the nineteenth century. Stothert, et al. describes seventeen sites that were excavated along the Tambo River with historic ceramic remains. Tin-glazed local imitation majolica were found. They were high-quality with an opaque glassy glaze, varying in vibrant colors, sometimes with a floral motif (Stothert 1997: 127). The local Folk ware showed signs of glaze on the inside of the sherds, while the imports had glaze on both sides.
Furthermore, transferware became a popular inexpensive decorative technique beginning in the mid-eighteenth century in England, France, and other areas of the globe (Boger 1971: 347 in Stothert 1997: 130).
Finally, spongeware, the technique of decorating whitewares by hand application using carved sponge stems was popular from 1845 until the early 1880s (Robacker and Robacker 1978: 97 in Stothert 1997: 130).
So the question is: where did these sherds come from and when were they made?
Because little research has been done on Ecuadorian majolica and various imports, it is dificult to anwer these questions right now. But here are a few minor conclusions:
1. These sherds are not from Panama Vieja because the paste is not "brick red"
2. They are not from Cuenca because the paste is not reddish-yellow to pink in color
3. More information is needed to analyze the types of imports Ecuador was receiving from Lima, Peru
4. The transferware pieces date later, around the mid to late eighteenth-century. They were also most likely imports from Europe or the Americas. Ecuador gained its indepedence from Spain in the 1820s, so it is possible that they were able to receive imports from other countries.
5. The single example of spongeware most likely dates to the second half of the nineteenth century. Refined earthenware was typical of foreign ceramics, so the sherd was most likely from an import.
6. The quality of these sherds is excellent. The pastes are refined, the tin-glazes are even, the colors are vibrant, and the hand-painting seems to be done by a relatively experienced artist. In addition, the glaze appears on both the exterior and interior. I believe that the hand-painted sherds were imported from Spain and date to an earlier time, possibly the seventeenth or early eighteenth century. Especially considering the proximity of El Azucar to Santa Elena, it is plausible that the settles could have access Spanish imports.
Little is known about the colonial period in Ecuador, and other Spanish colonies. Further excavations and research needs to be done in order to fully understand the history of majolica wares in Spain and throught the Andes during this period in history.
Sources:
Jamieson, Ross W.
2001 Majolica in the Early Colonial Andes: The Role of Panamanian Wares. In Latin American Antiquity 12(1): 45-58.
Jamieson, R.W. and R.G.V. Hancock
2004 Neutron Activation Analysis of Colonial Ceramics from Southern Highland Ecuador. In Archaeometry 46(4): 569-583.
Lister, Florence C. and Robert H.
1982 Sixteenth Century Maiolica Pottery in the Valley of Mexico. Tuscon: The University of Arizona Press.
Stothert, Karen E., et al
1997 Settlements and Ceramics of the Tambo River, Ecuador, from the Early Nineteenth Century. Los Angeles: The Institute of Archaeology University of California, Los Angeles.