Johanna Hecht
Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
October 2003
The so-called Manila Galleon (“Nao de China” or “Nao de Acapulco”) brought porcelain, silk, ivory, spices, and myriad other exotic goods from China to Mexico in exchange for New World silver. (It is estimated that as much as one-third of the silver mined in New Spain and Peru went to the Far East.) On the return leg, the precious Asian wares traveled across the Pacific, via the Philippines (colonized by Spain in the late sixteenth century), to Acapulco on Mexico’s west coast. They then crossed Mexico overland for shipment to Spain. However, much of the porcelain and carved ivory remained in the Americas and, in many cases, influenced artists working there: Mexican ceramics display the impact of the Galleon trade most vividly. But Chinese silk designs may have inspired some of the patterned garments of Guatemalan sculptures, whose faces also betray the subtle influence of Asian ivory carvings.
Citation
Hecht, Johanna. “The Manila Galleon Trade (1565–1815).” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/mgtr/hd_mgtr.htm (October 2003)
Further Reading
Schurz, William Lytle. The Manila Galleon. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1939.
Additional Essays by Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
- Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts. “Furnishings during the Reign of Louis XIV (1654–1715).” (May 2009)
- Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts. “The Croome Court Tapestry Room, Worcestershire.” (May 2009)
- Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts. “The Lansdowne Dining Room, London.” (May 2009)
- Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts. “French Decorative Arts during the Reign of Louis XIV (1654–1715).” (August 2009)
Related Essays
- East and West: Chinese Export Porcelain
- Europe and the Age of Exploration
- Exoticism in the Decorative Arts
- Ivory and Boxwood Carvings, 1450–1800
- American Furniture, 1730–1790: Queen Anne and Chippendale Styles
- Andean Textiles
- Arts of the Mission Schools in Mexico
- Arts of the Spanish Americas, 1550–1850
- Birds of the Andes
- Colonial Kero Cups
- Dualism in Andean Art
- Edward Lycett (1833–1910)
- European Exploration of the Pacific, 1600–1800
- French Porcelain in the Eighteenth Century
- German and Austrian Porcelain in the Eighteenth Century
- Polychrome Sculpture in Spanish America
- Talavera de Puebla
List of Rulers
Chronology
- Central America and the Caribbean, 1400–1600 A.D.
- China, 1400–1600 A.D.
- China, 1600–1800 A.D.
- Iberian Peninsula, 1400–1600 A.D.
- Iberian Peninsula, 1600–1800 A.D.
- Maya Area, 1400–1600 A.D.
- Mexico and Central America, 1600–1800 A.D.
- Mexico, 1400–1600 A.D.
- South America, 1600–1800 A.D.
- Southeast Asia, 1600–1800 A.D.
Keywords
- 16th Century A.D.
- 17th Century A.D.
- 18th Century A.D.
- 19th Century A.D.
- Americas
- Andes
- Asia
- Central America
- Ceramic
- China
- East Asia
- Europe
- European Decorative Arts
- Iberian Peninsula
- Ivory
- Melanesia
- Mexico
- Oceania
- Peru
- Porcelain
- Sculpture
- Sculpture in the Round
- Silk
- Silver
- South America
- Southeast Asia
- Spain
- Textile
- Trade
- Vessel