This type of jar with an iron cover, collar, and lock is commonly referred to as a "chocolate jar" (chocolatero). In Spain, Portugal, Mexico, and the Philip-pines, they were used to store cacao beans for making chocolate, a valuable commodity brought from Mexico into Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. This one is special – it was made from a Chinese porcelain jar, with the iron elements added later. With the influx of Asian luxury goods, wealthy mer-chants and aristocrats began to re-purpose Chinese porcelain into these chocolate jars and other things, to set them apart from the more everyday commodities for the masses. From 1565 to 1815, Spanish ships, known as "Manila Galleons", transported porcelains (like this jar), ivory, silk, and other products from China, via the Philippines, across the Pacific Ocean to the Mexican port of Acapulco. The goods were then transported overland for onward shipment to Spain and the rest of Europe.
