The Social Organization of Ceramic Production in a Colonial Context: The Case of Panamanian Majolica and Criolla Ware

Abstract

Due to the existence of wares that were produced both within and outside Spanish-tradition workshop in Panama Viejo, this site offers an apt opportunity to study how coexisting but seemingly distinct potting communities organized their craft in a colonial context. To this end, a sample of two locally produced wares—one characterized by high-fired, wheel-thrown, and tin-glazed vessels known as Panamanian Majolica and the other by low-fired, handmade, and coarse-textured utilitarian vessels known as Criolla—were analyzed. The findings of the macroscopic and microscopic characterizations revealed that highly divergent potting communities, whose productions practices and craft organization varied drastically, coexisted at the site.