A fancy way of drinking…water: high relief pottery from the 2nd half of the 16th century in Coimbra (Portugal)

The use of earthenware vessels became widespread among all social strata in Portugal from the second half of the 16th century on. Besides the plain púcaros (drinking cups), there are other elaborate profile exquisite pieces, truly something of a novelty back then, in what refined earthenware is concerned. Among these, we highlight the drinking vessels with skillful decoration in high relief, for the sake of their strong aesthetic and artistic appeal. Here are presented some samples of artifacts exhumed in Coimbra and Aveiro, in well dated contexts from the 2nd half of the 16th century. The most emblematic item within this notorious ceramic production was collected at Coimbra’s Santa Cruz monastery, bearing the engraved date of 1558. In this work we try to emphasise the Renaissance origin of this manufacture, which is still barely referred among the Modern Age luxury tableware.