Two-handled drinking bowl (bernegal)

Two-handled drinking bowl (bernegal)

1650 - 1750
Artist
unknown artist
Locale
Tonalá Jalisco
Country
Mexico
Style/Tradition
Tonalá
Object
bowl
Medium
Earthenware with clay slip paints
Accession Number
2017.92
Credit Line
Purchased with funds from Irma Boltman, Rene Lassabaterre, Joanna Moldow, Oz Zager, and Alianza de las Artes Americanas

Unknown artist, Two-Handled Drinking Bowl (Bernegal), 1650–1750. Earthenware with clay slip paints; 3⅛ × 6¾ in. Purchased with funds from Irma Boltman, Rene Lassabaterre, Joanna Moldow, Oz Zagar, and Alianza de las Americanas, 2017.92.

Dimensions
height: 3 3/20 in, 8.0010 cm; width: 6 7/10 in, 17.0180 cm
Department
Mayer Center, Latin American Art
Collection
Latin American Art
This object is currently on view

From the early 17th century, the town of Tonalá near Guadalajara, in the present-day state of Jalisco, Mexico, has been renowned for its fine, polished earthenware known as búcaros de Indias or búcaros de Tonalá. Avidly collected in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries, Tonalá vessels were highly appreciated for their fragrant clay, which infused drinking water with a unique, pleasant flavor. By the second half of the 17th century, in addition to the traditional high-polish red finish, búcaros de Tonalá were coated in a cream slip and decorated with foliage and floral designs in hues of bright red, orange, pink, blue, and black like this example.

When Hernando Cortés arrived in the capital city of Tenochtitlan in 1519 (present-day Mexico City) he tasted a foamy aromatic beverage called xocóatl. The exotic drink was made from the ground seeds of a native plant named cacao, chili peppers, and honey. The Spaniards modified the original Aztec recipe to better suit their tastes by adding sugar instead of honey and vanilla, extracted from the seed pod of an orchid indigenous to Mexico. In 1528 Cortés returned to Spain and presented King Charles I and the royal court with cacao beans and the recipe for making chocolate. The drink became very fashionable and by the late 1500s chocolate drinking spread to the rest of Europe. The popularity of chocolate eventually led to the development of various specialized implements and other accoutrements which were indispensable to properly prepare and serve the beverage, among them was a type of double handled drinking cup with a wide undulated rim called bernegal in Spanish. Members of the upper classes used gold or silver bernegales while less affluent individuals would use pottery bernegales like this Tonalá piece.

― Jorge Rivas Pérez, 2017

Known Provenance
Provenance research is on-going at the Denver Art Museum. Please e-mail provenance@denverartmuseum.org, if you have questions, or if you have additional information to share with us.