Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Portuguese tin-glazed earthenware in seventeenth-century New England: A preliminary study

  • Article
  • Published:
Historical Archaeology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

An Erratum to this article was published on 01 March 2000

Abstract

An examination of documentary and archaeological evidence for the distribution and use of Portuguese tin-glazed earthenware in 17th-century New England. This type of ware is commonly found in excavations but its significance has been overlooked. Its presence marks a period of intensified Anglo-Portuguese trade in which New England merchants played an important role. Insular and mainland Portugal imported New England codfish and wood products and exported wine, fruit, salt, oil, and tin-glazed earthenware. New England sites contribute new information to refine the dating and classification of these ceramics, consisting mainly of plates and bowls. Their disappearance from New England by the late 17th century may have been due to enforcement of the Navigation Acts and ascent of the British ceramic industry. Typologies for the forms and decoration of these 17th century tin-glazed earthenwares are presented.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Alexander, L. T. 1984 North Devon Pottery and Other Finds c. A.D. 1660– 1700. Bulletin and Journal of Archaeology for New York State, 88:15–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allan, John P. 1984 Medieval and Post-Medieval Finds from Exeter, 1971– 1980. Exeter Archaeological Reports, 3. Exeter, England.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allan, John P., and James Barber 1992 A 17th-century Pottery Group from Kitto Institute, Plymouth. InEveryday and Exotic Pottery from Europe, David Gaimster and Mark Redknap, editors, pp.225– 245. Oxbow Books, Oxford, England.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baart, Jan 1987 Portuguese Faience uit Amsterdamse Bodem. In Faianca Portuguesa, 1600–1660, by Rafael Salinas Calado and Jan Baart. Ministerio dos Nogocios Estrangeiras Secretaria de Estado da Cultura, Lisbon, Portugal.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bailyn, Bernard 1955 The New England Merchants in the Seventeenth Century. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker, Emerson W. 1985 The Clarke and Lake Company: The Historical Archaeology of a Seventeenth-Century Maine Settlement. Maine Historic Preservation Commission, Occasional Publications in Maine Archaeology, 4. Augusta.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baxter, James Phinney (editor) 1884 History of the State of Maine Containing the Trelawny Papers, Volume 3. Hoyt, Fogg, and Donham, Portland, ME.

  • Beaudry, Mary C, Janet Long, Henry M. Miller, Fraser Neiman, and Garry Wheeler Stone 1983 A Vessel Typology for Early Chesapeake Ceramics: The Potomac Typological System. Historical Archaeology, 17(1):18–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradley, James W. (editor) 1983 Archaeology of the Bostonian Hotel Site. Massachusetts Historical Commission Occasional Publication in Archaeology and History, 2. Boston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradley, Robert L., and Helen B. Camp 1994 The Forts of Pemaquid, Maine: An Archaeological and Historical Study. Maine Historic Preservation Commission, Occasional Publications in Maine Archaeology, 10. Augusta.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brancante, E. F. 1981 O Brasil e a Cerâmica Antiga. Cia Lithographica Ypiranga, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, Marley R., III 1980 European Ceramics. In Burr’s Hill, a 17th-Century Wampanoag Burial Ground in Warren, Rhode Island, Susan Gibson, editor, pp. 50–57. Haffenreffer Museum, Brown University, Studies in Anthropology and Material Culture, 2. Providence, RI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calado, Rafael Salinas 1987 Aspectos da Faiança Portuguesa do Seculo 17 e Alguns Antecedentes Historicos. In Faiança Portuguesa, 1600–1660, by Rafael Salinas Calado and Jan Baart, pp. 8–17. Ministerio dos Nogocios Estrangeiras Secretaria de Estado da Cultura, Lisbon, Portugal.

  • Calado, Rafael Salinas, and Jan Baart 1987 Faiança Portuguesa, 1600–1660. Ministerio dos Nogocios Estrangeiras Secretaria de Estado da Cultura, Lisbon, Portugal

  • Camp, Helen 1975 Archaeological Excavations at Pemaquid, Maine, 1965–1974. Maine State Museum, Augusta.

    Google Scholar 

  • City of Boston Registry Department 1903 Aspinwall Notarial Records from 1644 to 1651. Boston Records, 32. Boston, MA.

  • Cotter, John L. 1958 Archeological Excavations at Jamestown Colonial National Historical Park and Jamestown National Historic Site, Virginia. National Park Service, Archeological Research Series, 4. Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crandall, Ralph, and Ralph Coffman 1977 From Emigrants to Rulers: The Charlestown Oligarchy in the Great Migration. In New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 131:3–27, 121–132,207–213.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cranmer, Leon E. 1990 Cushnoc: The History and Archaeology of Plymouth Colony Traders on the Kennebec. Maine Historic Preservation Commission, Occasional Publications in Maine Archaeology, 7. Augusta.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deagan, Kathleen 1987 Artifacts of the Spanish Colonies of Florida and the Caribbean, 1500–1800. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deetz, James F. 1960a Excavations at the Joseph Howland Site (C5), Rocky Nook, Kingston, Massachusetts, 1959: A Preliminary Report. Supplement, Howland Quarterly, 24(2–3).

  • 1960b The Howlands at Rocky Nook: An Archaeological and Historical Study. Supplement, Howland Quarterly, 24(4):1–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1973 Ceramics from Plymouth, 1635–1835: The Archaeological Evidence. In Ceramics in America, Ian M. G. Quimby, editor, pp. 15–40. University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Mello, Ulysses Pernambucano 1979 The Shipwreck of the Galleon Sacramento-1668 off Brazil. International journal of Nautical Archaeology and Underwater Exploration, 8(3):211–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DePaoli, Neil 1984 Pemaquid, Maine: Preliminary Reconstruction of a Seventeenth-Century Coastal Community’s Domestic and International Trade Connections. Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society, 45(1):24–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dos Santos, Reynaldo 1960 A Faiança Portuguesa Seculos 16 e 17. Lisbon, Portugal.

  • Duncan, T. Bentley 1972 Atlantic Islands. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fairbanks, Charles 1973 The Cultural Significance of Spanish Ceramics. In Ceramics in America, Ian M. G. Quimby, editor, pp. 141–174. University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville.

    Google Scholar 

  • Faulkner, Alaric 1985 Archaeology of the Cod Fishery: Damariscove Island. Historical Archaeology, 19(2):57–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Faulkner, Alaric, and Gretchen Faulkner 1987 The French at Pentagoet 1635–1674: An Archaeological Portrait of the Acadian Frontier. Maine Historic Preservation Commission and New Brunswick Museum, Occasional Publications in Maine Archaeology, 5. Augusta.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibb, James G. 1996 The Archaeology of Wealth: Consumer Behavior in English America. Plenum Press, New York, NY.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gibb, James, and Wesley J. Balla 1993 Dutch Pots in Maryland Middens: Or, What Light from Yonder Pot Breaks? Journal of Middle Atlantic Archaeology, 9:67–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goggin, John 1960 The Spanish Olive Jar: An Introductory Study. Yale University Publications in Anthropology, 62. New Haven, CT.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1968 Spanish Majolica in the New World. Yale University Publications in Anthropology, 72. New Haven, CT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graffam, Gray 1981 Excavation of the Olmstead-Goffe House Site at Wadsworth Gate, Red Line Extension Northwest. Report to Sverdrup & Parcel Associates, Inc., from Institute for Conservation Archaeology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

  • Grant, Allison 1983 North Devon Pottery: the 17th Century. The University of Exeter, Exeter, England.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greene, Jack P., and J. R. Pole 1984 Reconstructing British-American Colonial History: An Introduction. In Colonial British America, Jack P. Greene and J. R. Pole, editors, pp. 1–17. Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, MD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunter, Robert 1994 English Delft from Williamsburg’s Archaeological Contexts. In English Delft at Williamsburg, John C. Austin, pp. 24–29. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, VA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurst, John G., David S. Neal, and H. J. E. van Beuningen 1986 Pottery Produced and Traded in North-West Europe 1350–1650. Rotterdam Papers, 6. Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

    Google Scholar 

  • Innis, H. 1940 The Cod Fisheries. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jelks, Edward 1958 Ceramics from Jamestown. In Archeological Excavations at Jamestown Virginia, by John L. Cotter, pp. 201–212. National Park Service, Archeological Research Series, 4. Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelso, William M. 1979 Rescue Archaeology on the James—Early Virginia Country Life. Archaeology, 32:15–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1984 Kingsmill Plantations, 1619–1800. Academic Press, Orlando, FL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirkman, James 1974 Fort Jesus: A Portuguese Fortress on the East African Coast. Clarendon Press, Oxford, England.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lombard, Percival 1927 The First Trading Post of the Plymouth Colony. Old Time New England, 18(2):70–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, Henry M. 1983 A Search for the “Citty of Saint Maries.” St. Maries Citty Archaeology Series, 1. St. Mary’s City, MD.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1986 Discovering Maryland’s First City. St. Mary’s City Archaeology Series, 2. St. Mary’s City, MD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meenan, Rosanne 1992 Iberian Pottery from Ireland. In Everyday and Exotic Pottery from Europe c. 650–1900, David Gaimster and Mark Redknap, editors, pp. 186–193. Oxbow Books, Oxford, England.

    Google Scholar 

  • Monteiro, Joao Pedro 1994 Oriental Influences on Seventeenth Century Portuguese Ceramics. Museu Nacional do Azulejo, Lisbon, Portugal.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moran, Geoffrey, Edward F. Zimmer, and Anne E. Yentsch 1982 Archeological Investigations at the Narbonne House. North Atlantic Regional Office, National Park Service, Cultural Resources Management Study, 6. Boston, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Noël Hume, Ivor 1970 A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1977 Early English Delftware from London and Virginia. Colonial Williamsburg Occasional Papers in Archaeology, 2. Williamsburg, VA.

  • 1982 Martin’s Hundred. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orton, Clive 1988 Post-Roman Pottery. In Excavations in Southwark 1973–76, Lambeth 1973–79, pp. 295–363. London and Middlesex Archaeological Society and Surrey Archaeological Society Joint Publication, 3. Museum of London, London, England.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pendery, Steven R. 1986 Merchants and Artisans in Colonial Charlestown, Massachusetts. Archaeology, 39(3):64–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1987 Symbols of Community: Status Differences and the Archaeological Record in Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1630–1760. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

  • 1996 The Archaeology of the 17th-century British Immigrant Experience in the Northeastern United States. Historical Archaeology Guides to Historical Archaeological Literature, 4:71–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Probate Records of Essex County (PREC) 1916 Probate Records of Essex County, Massachusetts. Essex Institute, Salem, MA.

  • Sassoon, Hamo 1981 Ceramics from the Wreck of a Portuguese Ship at Mombasa. Azania, (16):97–130.

  • Shaw, L. M. E. 1989 Trade, Inquisition and the English Nation in Portugal, 1650–1690. Carcanet Press, Manchester, England.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stubbs, John 1992 Underground Harvard: The Archaeology of College Life. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

  • Synenki, Alan T., and Sheila Charles 1984 Archeological Collections Management of the Great Island Tavern Site, Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts. North Atlantic Regional Office, National Park Service, ACMP Series, 3. Boston, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, Bruce F. 1985 Rigging Elements from a 17th-Century Portuguese Frigate. The Society for Historical Archaeology, Special Publication Series, 4:100–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turnbaugh, William 1984 The Material Culture of RI-1000, a Mid-17th-Century Narragansett Indian Burial Site in North Kingston, Rhode Island. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Rhode Island, Kingston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vince, Alan G. 1984 A Note on the Petrology of the Spanish and Portuguese Tin-Glazed Wares. In Medieval and Post-Medieval Finds from Exeter, 1971–1980, by J. P. Allan, p. 146. Exeter Archaeological Reports, 3. Exeter, England.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallerstein, Immanuel 1980 The Modern World System II. Academic Press, New York, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watkins, C. Malcolm 1973 Ceramics Used in America: Comparisons. In Ceramics in America, Ian M. G. Quimby, editor, pp. 191–196. University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1975 Ceramics in the 17th-Century English Colonies. In Arts of the Anglo-American Community in the 17th Century, Ian M. G. Quimby, editor, pp. 275–299. University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilcoxen, Charlotte 1987a Dutch Trade and Ceramics in America in the Seventeenth Century. Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, NY.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1987b Dutch Trade with New England. De Halve Maen, 60(2):1–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, Lorraine 1972 Fort Shantok and Fort Corchaug: A Comparative Study of 17th-Century Culture Contact in the Long Island Sound Area. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York. University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, MI.

  • Wyman, Thomas Bellows 1982 Estates and Genealogies of Charlestown, Massachusetts. New England History Press, Somersworth, NH.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Northeast Cultural Resources Center, National Park Service, 400 Foot of John Street, Lowell, MA, USA, 01852-1195

    Steven R. Pendery

Authors
  1. Steven R. Pendery
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF03373635.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pendery, S.R. Portuguese tin-glazed earthenware in seventeenth-century New England: A preliminary study. Hist Arch 33, 58–77 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03374302

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03374302

Search

Navigation