A traditional portuguese type of pottery: the inlaid quartz decorated ware from Coimbra (16th – 17th centuries)

One of the most original pottery productions in 16th century Portugal is the group of pieces called “empedradas”, endowed with a peculiar decorative technique achieved by inlaying small fragments of quartz on the vessels walls. Despite the knowledge that has already been gathered, there are still many doubts concerning its chronology, origin, production centres, geographical distribution and evolution of this pottery production. In this regard, this text aims to improve the morphological corpus of this peculiar ware, pointing out significant known artefacts from Coimbra (Portugal), normally deriving from monastic backgrounds during the 2nd half of the 16th century and the 17th century.