Pewter from Shipwrecks

During winter storms in 2014 and 2017, strong waves threw hundreds of timbers and artefacts into the Belinho beach in the North of Portugal. These were the remains of what was later discovered to be a 16th-century shipwreck, probably originating from Northern Europe.

Among the artifacts found at Belinho stands a large collection of pewter artifacts, which includes more than four hundred plates and fragments, spoons, candle sticks, tankards, porringers, a book cover, and a pot, among other artifacts represented only in fragments.

This collection has been inventoried and studied and is currently undergoing conservation treatment.

The artifacts were analyzed both from an archaeological and from a history of art perspective and are currently being compared with pewters from other shipwreck collections, namely the Pepper Wreck collection—N. S. dos Mártires, 1606.

There are few studies of pewter artifacts in Portugal and we are trying to contribute to the study of these artifacts.

Our interests cluster around the establishment and refinement of chronologies of styles and types, a classification of shapes and marks, a glossary, and, as Tania Casimiro puts it, a "study of material culture within a system of cultural, social and economic relations and entanglements between human and non-human agents and cargos."

We are currently analyzing the Pepper wreck collection for future publication.

References

• Frias-Bulhosa, Elisa, 2023. Depois do mar. A coleção de estanho e de latão de Belinho (Esposende). Relatório de estágio realizado no âmbito do Mestrado em História da Arte, Património e Cultura Visual. Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto.
• Casimiro, T., Dostal, C., Castro, F., Almeida, A., Magalhaes, I., Teixeira, E., (nd). "Metal objects were much desired. A 16th-century shipwreck cargo off the coast of Esposende (Portugal)," Journal of Maritime Archaeology, submitted 2023.