Portuguese Faience in Brazil’s 17th century Capital

Summary

The colonial Brazilian territory, organized and structured following the metropolitan model of society and administration, suffers an economic convulsion after the dynastic union in 1580 that modifies a major part of its social and cultural structure.

The Portuguese faience fragments collected in the Praça da Sé, Colégio dos Jesuítas and in the remains of the shipwreck Galeão Santíssimo Sacramento (all in the city of Salvador da Bahia, Brazil), are testimonies of the social and economic matrix of 17th century, in which this kind of ceramic played an important role in public appearance of power and wealth.

The heterogeneity identified in forms and decorations proves the irregular circulation of this kind of ceramic between the production centers (in Portugal) and the colonial capital market and the private nature of that circulation, reduced drastically after the creation of the commerce state company "Companhia Geral do Comércio do Brasil" in 1649. 

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Territory, settlement and material culture in the Iberian colonial empires (16-18th centuries)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2013

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 482