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Chair: Hans Roskamp

"Colonial Period Glass Production"
José Roberto Peralta Rodríguez, Instituto Politécnico Nacional


El Colegio de Michoacán A.C. © 2013 - Martínez de Navarrete 505, Las Fuentes, 59699
Zamora Michoacán, México. Tel. +52 (351) 515 7100 Ext. 2312 y 2308. E-mail: coloquio@colmich.edu.mx

SUMMARY  (17:00 – 17:30)

Colonial Period Glass Production

Unlike other activities, glass production in Mexico City showed gradual progress over time, due just as much to the social circumstances of the colonial period context as to economic conditions. Doubt has been cast on its existence in the city, despite the fact that Mexico City was the political and economic center of New Spain. Nonetheless, the presence of glassmakers since the sixteenth century and facilities dedicated to this type of production, evidenced in written sources, reveal its presence.

From an early stage, glass production was linked to metallurgical activities, specifically to the Casa del Apartado (associated with monetary production), which set the tone of its establishment and also promoted the development of luxury items and containers used by physicians and apothecaries. The tendency to replace barilla (soda ash) with tequesquite and salitre (lime and saltpeter), led to difficulties in the manufacture of glass, since the latter was used by the Gunpowder Factory, and both were subject to individual leases until the late eighteenth century, which conditioned developing glass production.

The production process was similar to that practiced in Spain; nevertheless, glass makers were restricted by the available mineral resources and had to adapt the industry to the natural and geological conditions of the areas where the raw materials were obtained. This, however, affected the quality of the glass produced, a factor that favored the importation of European glass.

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JOSÉ ROBERTO PERALTA RODRÍGUEZ

Dr. Peralta earned his Master's in Science at Mexico's National Polytechnical Institute (I.P.N.), and his Doctorate at the UNAM. He has published several scientific articles and popular works in national and international journals related to the topics of visual health and glass production. In 2007, the Mexican Committee of Historical Sciences awarded him Honorable Mention for his study "Desarrollo de la óptica oftálmica y uso de anteojos en la Cd. de México, siglos XVI-XVII". In 2011, he published the book El vidrio en la Ciudad de México. Productores y Productos Novohispanos, siglos XVI-XVII. Today, he is active in two lines of research focusing on the historical development of attention to visual health in Mexico, and of ophthalmic glass and optics. He is a professor/researcher in the Section of Graduate Studies at the Escuela Superior de Medicina at the I.P.N., and a Fellow of the Stimulus for Teaching Performance and Exclusivity System programs, also at the I.P.N.

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