Chinese ceramics at the “Hub of the World”

Abstract

Encounters between Europeans and Americans opened a connection with the countries in Asia. Large amounts of silver from South America and Mexico were shipped to China to be exchanged for the porcelain, silk, and lacquer that were desired in Europe. The porcelain sherds found in the city of Panama confirm how global the trade was. This settlement was founded in 1519 on the Pacific side of the isthmus and played an important role in a complex trade route that facilitated the export of silver from the New World to the Old along with an influx of these goods from the Pacific maritime traffic. After an amalgamation process using mercury facilitating the extraction of silver was developed in the 1550’s, it was used at Potosi in present-day Bolivia. Beginning in 1572, New World silver production began to increase dramatically. Chinese mercury was imported into Latin America; demonstrating “clandestine shipping directly from Asia to Peru,” showing that “there was a high level of international connectedness.” Spanish trade in the Pacific began in the sixteenth century, when Ferdinand Magellan claimed the Philippine Islands for the Spanish Empire. The Philippines had a been a market for Chinese ceramics since the Tang dynasty (618-906) but after Spain established the trading post of Manila in the mid1500’s, Spanish traders quickly saw the opportunity to send Chinese porcelain to the Spanish colonies in the Americas. The first Spanish galleon crossed the Pacific from Manila to Acapulco, Mexico, in 1565, but large shipments of porcelain did not begin to arrive until 1573. Colonists from all over Latin America went to Acapulco to buy Asian goods. Porcelain was far superior to tin-glazed earthenware, such as maiolica, because it was hard, and the glaze and the body were fused together so that it would not crack or chip. Even the maiolica of the best quality might look attractive but could not endure frequent use or washing. The glaze and body could separate, leading to crazing or cracking. The advantages of porcelain were obvious, but Europeans could not make true porcelain until the Meissen factory at Dresden was started in the early 18 century. I have been studying the sherds found in Panama from the time I was first contacted by Beatriz Rovira, who was the chief archaeologist there and I have written several articles about the sherds. I also met with Dr. Felipe Gait an Ammann, who wrote a wonderful doctoral dissertation about the Genoese slave traders in Panama, which was then the “hub of the world.” The traders, Ambrosio Lomelin and Domingo Grillo, were given the contract in 1663 by Philip IV (r. 1621-65) of Spain to become the “first exclusive slave-trading concessionaire to operate directly from the Spanish Indies” and to negotiate directly with the English and the Dutch. Panama was one of the main commercial hubs in the Spanish Empire. Silver bullion was plentiful at Potosi, then in Peru, in present-day Bolivia. Panama was “a port of transit for all of the African captives who were transported to Peru – by far the largest slave market of all the Spanish colonies in the New World.” The African captives were important for extracting silver from the mines of Peru. The "enormous financial benefits" of trading enslaved Africans as part of the "European Colonial Project" was realized during this period, once the enslavement of the indigenous people was prohibited." All the silver bullion from Potosi had to be channeled through Panama on its way to Spain. In my previous articles I have discussed the range of sherds found there and related them to comparative objects, but I decided that this article would be different. I was struck by the fact that several of the sherds can be related to similar pieces found in other