Accession Number

1986.008.0624

Creation Date

circa 1620

Description

30% intact. Blue glaze with dark blue design.

Exhibition Label

Case Caption (2023): 

Religious Devotions

Spain’s empire was won by conquest and the Spanish believed that their laws, leaders, and the Roman Catholic religion were superior to Indigenous customs, rulers, and spiritual practices.

Priests came to provide emigrants with spiritual support but also to convert Indigenous people. They hastened conversions by asserting that Jesus and the Virgin Mary were bigger, better manifestations of local gods. The Virgin Mary was quickly identified with Pachamama, the goddess of the earth. In 1532, the church that became Lima Cathedral was built on top of a major shrine to Inti, the Inca sun god and the palace of an Inca prince. The Spanish used this suppressive strategy successfully throughout their colonies.
Object Caption (2023):

Plate
Majolica (c.1620)
Gift of Jamestown Inc.
1986.008.0624

This fragment is decorated with a depiction of a mission church, complete with a simple cross.