68.43.56, fragment of oriental porcelain, 28 millimeters (1 inch)
long
San Gabriel de Yunque (A.D. 1598–1610)
UNM field school collection
Photograph by B. Bernard
This tiny piece of oriental porcelain tells an important story. Just
before 1600, most likely, it was transported on a Chinese junk
to Manila. There it was loaded onto the
Manila Galleon, a Spanish
ship that sailed east from the Philippines to the New World once or twice
a year. Once the ship encountered the west coast of North America
(making landfall as far north as California), it followed the coast
southward to Acapulco. The porcelain piece represented by this fragment
then traveled overland, ultimately reaching New Mexico.
We tell the story of
Chinese porcelain in New Mexico in a different online exhibit, as you can see
by clicking
here.
By the time this piece of oriental porcelain reached San Gabriel, it was a rare item indeed. Besides serving some practical function, an imported piece such as this reminded everyone that even though its owners were on an isolated frontier, they were part of the Spanish Empire and its cosmopolitan culture.
A second bit of oriental porcelain from San Gabriel is shown below.
68.43.64, fragment of oriental porcelain, 23 millimeters (1 inch)
long
San Gabriel de Yunque (A.D. 1598–1610)
UNM field school collection
Photograph by B. Bernard
All content copyright © Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, University of New Mexico. A high-resolution verson of this photograph may be ordered from the Maxwell Museum's photo archives. Please make note of the catalogue number. For more information please visit the photo archives web page
Page last revised on July 23, 2015. Please report problems to toh@unm.edu