Research reveals that gourds made by indigenous women were supplied to the European luxury goods market in the 18th century

Gourds, both household and ceremonial objects, exist in various cultural settings in Brazil, especially in indigenous and riverine communities, but also in large cities in the Amazon region, such as Belém, the capital of the state of Pará. .

“The gourd is thought to be one of the first plants cultivated in the Amazon, and its use is probably even older than ceramics,” said Renata María de Almeida, researcher and professor at the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies at the University of São Paulo. Martins says: (FAU-USP) in Brazil, and Labya-Yala, Institute for Decolonial Studies and coordinator of the project “Barroco-açu: Portuguese America in Artistic Geography.” Global South. ”

As part of the project, Martins conducted a detailed analysis of the production of varnished gourds and gourds during the 18th century captaincy period in colonial Brazil, known as Grao Para. These items are preserved in Portuguese museums. An article on this topic has been published in Heritage magazine.

“The gourds were made by indigenous women and used sophisticated techniques to give them a black, shiny, and durable finish, like Amazonian lacquer. has been modified and reworked with motifs inspired by local flora and fauna. It also reflects the artistic exchanges of the time and was distributed around the world between Europe and Asia, as seen in objects covered with mopamopa, also called balnis de pasto, in Colombia, and objects covered with maquet. It was also made with embroidered designs from Mexican lacquer,” Martins says.

It is important to note that these gourds were not created spontaneously and randomly, but in factories maintained by settlers or within the framework of religious missions in the Amazon. The technique of gourd painting was recognized in the early 18th century. The products of these “factories” were mostly destined for the European market, participating in the globalization process that was already underway at the time.

Modified gourds are mainly produced in the village of Monte Alegre (formerly the indigenous village of Gurpatuba, now Monte Alegre in the state of Pará), elsewhere in the lower Amazon region, and also in Belém, the capital of the state of Graon. Ta. State of Pará. The naturalist Alexandre Rodríguez Ferreira (1756-1815) collected some of them during his philosophical travels, and they are now housed in the Mainense Museum of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences and the Science Museum of the University of Coimbra. .

In his explanation, Ferreira said that the village of Monte Alegre produced between 5,000 and 6,000 gourds each year, most of which were sent to Lisbon.

“Their diverse and complex decorations, which are based on indigenous traditions and inspired by Asia and Europe, are examples of indigenous, African and mestizo women’s practices of creative and artistic resistance.” Martins says.

In addition to studying the 18th-century gourds, researchers visited the community of Carapanatuba in the Aripera region of the lower Amazon River in the city of Santarem in 2023. These items are still produced there today by free and empowered women. Area along the river.

Founded in 2003, the Santarem Riverside Craftsmen Association (Asarisan) brought together artists from five communities in Alipera and played a key role in ensuring the registration of the “Lower Amazon Gourd Making” Ta. Knowledge about the National Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN) as part of Brazil’s cultural heritage in 2015.

“We found that the majority of the production still follows the same process as described by Ferreira, as other scholars have also reported. Women such as Socorro Pereira The Alipera region preserves ancestral knowledge about nature, rivers, flora and local fauna, as well as the long process of making gourds painted with kumate and incised. It’s ‘embroidered’ on it,” Martins said.

In the garden surrounding the house of Dona (“Mistress”) Lelia and her husband, Señor (“Mr.”) Antonio, there are many different types of gourd trees (Crescentia cujete), round and oval in various sizes. The fruit will bear fruit. Women pick them when they are ripe, that is, when they make a certain sound.

The fruit is then cut open with a machete or saw, and the resulting gourd is placed in a large pot of boiling water to soften the shell. The outer shell of each gourd is then carefully scraped with a knife, the edges smoothed with the rough tongue of a pirarucu fish (Arapaima gigas), and the inside smoothed with scales from the same fish.

Final preparation for varnishing is carried out by rubbing the inside and outside with large leaves of the Embauba tree (Cecropia). The Embauba tree is a species that can also be found in areas near family homes. A gourd that has been treated but is not varnished is called “pitinga”.

The process of “lacquering” is carried out by applying tincture of coumaté, a reddish liquid obtained by injecting the bark of coumatézeiro (Myrsia atramentifera), another tree of the region . After applying several layers of dye, the gourd is placed on a table of sand or ash, sprinkled with human urine, covered and left overnight.

A chemical reaction between the dye components and the urine turns the reddish dye into a kind of glossy black “lacquer.” According to 18th-century reports, this technique, developed by indigenous women in the lower Amazon River, produces results comparable to or better than the finest Chinese lacquer (Rhus vernicifera or Rhus verniciflua).

“After all these steps, the gourd is decorated by making cuts with a small knife.The cuts remove the varnish and allow the light background to show through. It was a method of painting by applying dye, and was widely used on gourds.” “The 18th-century dye is known to artists along the river as a dye-producing plant, but it is rarely used in the area today,” Martins said.

Iconography of indigenous origin, consisting of geometric and abstract motifs, is increasingly used on today’s gourds produced for use or trade.

“But even in colonial times, gourd production not only served export markets, but also played an important role in ceremonial contexts.” It details the resistance of the indigenous women of Monte Alegre to this. Beads and muiraquitans (a type of Amazonian amulet) were attached because of their important meaning in the social relations of the community.” Martins explains.

Produced by women, gourds are also symbolically associated with fertility, creation myths, and ancient indigenous healing practices, and are used for preparing and pouring therapeutic baths and blessings, as well as for typical Amazonian dishes such as takaka. It is still widely used today to provide .

But in the 18th century, workshops established in villages and religious missions redirected this ancestral tradition to cater to a European market hungry for luxury goods and items considered “exotic.” Asian or Asian-influenced European pieces, such as porcelain, silk, embroidery, and even ivory crosses, served as models for local production that reinterpreted imported goods.

“Indigenous and indigenous African artists used techniques such as inlay, marquetry, and gilding, and incorporated materials from the Amazon and plants such as copaiba (Copaifera langsdorffii) and West Indian locust (Hymenaea courbaril) to create discovered art. It created a similar effect to gilding on objects in Asia,” says Martins.

“The participation of indigenous women, their intimacy with the nature of the forest, was fundamental to this process. This contribution and protagonist, often invisible, is important in cultural and artistic relations in the colonial Amazon. essential for understanding complexity” then and today. ”