Abstract
In this article we will discuss the presence and importance of home linen in households in the village of São Paulo and its surroundings, between 1596 and 1640, based on the study of 130 inventories, from the perspective of material culture. The aim is to understand aspects of the relationship between maintaining Iberian customs and these textile artifacts in a region of the Empire and in a period marked by a strong adhesion to indigenous cultural elements. For this purpose, the interior of the house will be briefly outlined, showing relevant features of the sets of objects that filled it, according to different levels of wealth. With this panorama in mind, the linen sets of the house will be analyzed, quantitatively and qualitatively. The richest sets, being the most diversified and complete, will be presented as case studies, from which we will observe important aspects of how the items in this category of artifacts were composed and used and what they meant in the daily life of the period under investigation.
Keywords:
material culture; post mortem inventories; village of Sao Paulo