This is a mancerina, a vessel made specifically for drinking hot chocolate. The large saucer has an open work cupholder attached in the middle. Chocolate would be drunk from a handle-less chocolate cup known as a jicara. These cups were modelled on hollowed out gourds used for drinking chocolate in the Americas, from where it originates. When chocolate first became popular in Europe, it was a drink for the rich, and these mancerina's would catch any spills that might otherwise get on their elaborate outfits. The decoration on this one made in China is in overglaze enamels of green, brown, red, pink, and gold. It is an excellent example of the type of Chinese ceramics traded through the ports of Southeast Asia, the Americas, and Europe by the Manila Galleons between 1565 and 1815. Mancerinas were apparently named after Pedro de Toledo, 1st Marquis of Mancera and Viceroy of Peru (ca. 1585–1654), and popularised by his son, Antonio, 2nd Marquis of Mancera and Viceroy of New Spain (1664–73). The form was probably first made in Spanish silver; then copied in ceramics, which may have been the model for the Chinese potter. The mancerina was a popular object within the Spanish Manila-to-Acapulco Galleon trade, particular in Mexico.
