Sagrario excavations

Lister and Lister (2) further refined the majolica typology for the 16th-century varieties. Their interpretation was based on the study of majolica ceramics found below a floor sealed in 1573 at the Metropolitan Cathedral excavation site along with other ceramics from less well-defined stratigraphic contexts at the Sagrario excavations in Mexico City. On the basis of this... 

The 16th-century majolica samples came from excavations at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City and can be assigned to a date before 1573. Other ceramics from excavations in Mexico City at the Sagrario and the Metro can not be so closely dated. The types of ceramics include Mexico City White, Fig Springs/ San Juan Polychrome, Sevilla White, and Columbia Gun Metal. 

The data for all of the samples are presented in appendixes to this chapter. Appendix A includes samples from excavations in Mexico City at the Metropolitan Cathedral (SC 16, SC 20, SC 22, SC 29, SC 31, SC 37, and SC 38) the Sagrario (all other samples designated SC) and from the Metro excavations (designated SA). Appendix B includes all the samples from Santa Catalina de Guale (designated SCI). Appendix C contains the data for the modern majolica samples from Puebla (designated SD). 

Two samples, SC 37 and SC 38, assigned to the proposed Puebla production group, in fact come from the sealed context at the Metropolitan Cathedral. The significance of these two sherds is that they provide evidence of Puebla production of majolica ceramics before 1573. Two of the Fig Springs/San Juan Polychrome sherds, SC 46 and SC 52, excavated at the Sagrario, have the proposed Mexico City composition. On this basis, we propose that there may be two varieties of Fig Springs/San Juan Polychrome, one from Puebla and one from Mexico City. 

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