| Type Name: | MELADO |
| Type Index: | LEAD GLAZED COARSE EARTHENWARE |
| Production Origin: | SPAIN |
| Date Range: | 1490-1550 |
| Defining Attributes: |
Cream-colored, soft chalky (majolica-like) earthenware paste on tableware forms; buff to reddish lightly sand tempered paste on large utilitarian forms. Surface is covered with a thick, tin-opacified lead glaze, with color ranging most frequently from honey to amber to mustard brown. The surface is most commonly matte or low-gloss. Designs consisting of simple broad lines are occasionally painted in manganese brown . |
| Vessel Forms: |
ALBARELO BACIN ESCUDILLA JAR PITCHER PLATO SAUCER |
| Comments: | Melado ware differs from similarly-colored lead glazed wares in its majolica-like paste, and its thick, opaque glaze. On the earliest Spanish sites in the Caribbean, Melado occurs is a wider variety of paste types, glaze colors and vessel forms than it does after ca. 1520. These varieties are detailed in Deagan and Cruxent 2002b:160-166. Decoration is rare in later examples. |
| Published Definitions: | Deagan 1987:48; Goggin 1968:227 |