Accession Number

1987.013.0003a

Creation Date

circa 1620

Description

A two-handled silver vessel functioned as somewhere between a cup and a bowl. The openwork of the handles would have facilitated both cooling and the user’s grip. It is not known if this piece was used as shipboard tableware or if it was part of a stored cargo.

One of three pieces (handles 1987.013.0003b, c).

Exhibition Label

Case Caption (2023):

A Colonist— Gaspar De Rojas

Gaspar de Rojas had immigrated to Peru with his family as a boy, and lived in Lima, where he had become a prominent merchant. He imported textiles and other manufactured goods from Europe and also traded in leather, wax, and fur. He was the agent responsible for a consignment of 100 silver ingots on the Santa Margarita, and 11 on the Nuestra Señora de Atocha.

De Rojas had risked the transatlantic voyage several times. Records state that in 1616 he returned to Peru from Spain accompanied by his bookkeeper and an enslaved mulatto man. In 1620, he sailed with an enslaved African named Felipe Biafra. Aboard the Santa Margarita, he was traveling with his nephew, don Francisco de Rojas. They both drowned in the shipwreck.
Object Caption (2023): 

Porringer
Silver (c.1620)
Museum Acquisition Fund
1987.013.0003a-c