11 August 2016
UPDATED 11th August 2016
The fourth image down is of a “kraak-ware” Delft style dinner plate. Kraak ware was so called because of the ships, carracks, or kraaks, in which Chinese Ming Dynasty blue-and -white porcelain was imported to Europe up to the end of the 17th century. It was much imitated in Spain, Portugal, and Holland, using tin-glazed earthenware. It was not until the 18th century that the “secret” of making porcelain was discovered in the West, first at Meissen, and then in England. Fragments of Spanish and Portuguese “kraak-ware” have turned up in 16th century archaeological sites on the west coast of Ireland. There was a long history of trading between Galway, and Spain/Portugal from medieval times. This trade died out after the Cromwellian invasion, and British control of Irish trading after the 1640s.
