The Intramuros Pot Shard was found under the floor of Iglesia de San Ignacio in Intramuros.
It is a large earthenware rim shard exhibiting what is inferred to be an ancient inscription around the vessel’s shoulder. It was recovered with other Chinese porcelain fragments dated back to the Ming Dynasty(late 16 to early 17th century).
Esperanza Gatbonton, one of the pioneering leaders of heritage conservation in Intramuros, initially deciphered the engraved writing by comparing it with early Tagalog and Kapampangan scripts.
According to Gatbonton, the writing is possibly a Baybayin script in which a section can be tentatively read as “pa-la-ki” and interpreted as “a-la-ke” or “alay kay” roughly translated as “an offering to…”.
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