17th Century Spanish Earthenware Storage Jars with Examples Found in Charlestown and Newburyport, Mass.

Earlier this year, I learned from an Instagram post made by Joaquin Montes Fernandez, a speciality ceramics dealer in Spain about a style of seventeenth century painted earthenware storage jar made in Triana, Spain. Two the jars posted were painted green, while the third was not painted; these types of jars were made from both white and red earthenware. 

The reason this piqued my interest is because I own a related storage jar with original green paint, which came out of a Federal Period house in Newburyport, Massachusetts. The history of the jar dates back with the family to at least the early 1800s. I suspect it was imported into America, although I do not know the history of it in the seventeenth or eighteenth century.

This type of jar has also been recovered from various archaeological contexts in the American colonies, including an example that was not painted, which was recovered by archaeologists from the circa 1638-1658 James Garrett House site in Charlestown, Massachusetts in the 1980s. Garrett was a wealthy merchant who moved from England to Maudlin Street in Charlestown in 1635 (right across the street from the U.S.S. Constitution today) to escape the conflicts of the English Civil War. He lived on the property with his family until leaving to return to England in 1656, selling his land and house to Samuel Beadle. Nonetheless, I suspect the jar I own retains a similar history in the New England colonies, although it is currently undocumented.

Note: For more information about Garrett - see my third book, titled, The Dawn of Independence, the Death of an Industry: The Pottery of Charlestown, Massachusetts: https://historicbeverly.net/product/the-dawn-of-independence-the-death-of-an-industry/.

17th Century Spanish Earthenware Storage Jars from Spain

17th Century Painted Earthenware Storage Jars Made in Triana, Spain

The Green Paint is Original to Production

These Types of Jars were Imported to the American Colonies

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Photo Courtesy: Joaquin Montes Fernandez

17th Century Painted Red Earthenware Storage Jar from Spain

The Green Paint is Original to Production

Very Similar to the Examples Made in Triana, Spain

Retains a Lengthy History of Ownership with a Family in Newburyport, Mass.

Related Jar Recovered from a 17th Century Context in Charlestown, Mass.

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 17th Century Red Earthenware Storage Jar from Spain

Uncovered at the James Garrett Site in Charlestown, Mass.

Circa 1638-1658 Archaeological Context

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Photo Courtesy: City of Boston Archaeology Program

Another View of the Jar

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Photo Courtesy: City of Boston Archaeology Program

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