Type Name:

FELDSPAR-INLAID REDWARE

Category:

UNGLAZED COARSE EARTHENWARE

Production Origin:

IBERIA/PANAMA/MEXICO

Production Date Range:

1500-1600

Defining Attributes:

Thin, dark-red unglazed coarse earthenware paste, sometimes with a reddish wash on the surface.

Decorated with embedded white feldspar stone chips, inlaid either randomly or in a pattern.

Molded, stamped, and incised decorative elements may also be present, including zoomorphic vessel appendages.

Vessel Forms:

BOWL
CUP
JAR
PITCHER
VASE

Comments:

This pottery type is Moorish-inspired Iberian origin. By the mid-seventeenth century it was apparently being produced in American centers, including Panamá and Mexico. Its production continued in parts of Mexico into the early twentieth century. Feldspar inlay on Orange Micaceous paste or on a buff-colored earthenware paste has been noted at sixteenth century sites in the Caribbean.

Published Definitions:

Fairbanks 1966, Deagan 2002