The History of Mexican Ceramic Art

A stall selling majolica ware.

Mexico's pottery industry emerged after the Spanish conquest of the region. Twenty-first century Mexican ceramicists produce items like dishes and kitchen utensils as well as sculptures and folk art. Though the number of potters dropped with the rise of mass-produced items, handmade ceramics continue to play an important role in the Mexican economy, and a number of regions---like Puebla, Guanajuato and Oaxaca---maintain diverse artisan ceramic traditions.

History

Pre-Columbian Mexican cultures did not use potter's wheels or glaze techniques, though they maintained a flourishing pottery industry. After the Spanish conquest, craftsmen from Talavera de la Reina, Seville and Cadiz began producing tin-glazed earthenware in the Mexican region of Puebla from 1550 to 1570 and nearly wiped out indigenous ceramic traditions. Due to the rapid increase in the number of workshops during this period, the government passed the first ordinances for potters in 1653 which regulated the industry until 1820.

Talavera Pottery of Puebla

Talavera pottery of Puebla is distinguished by its milky-white glaze. Though Pueblan Talavera began in the 1500s, in the late 1900s the region introduced new designs and passed laws to protect Talavera pieces made with 16th-century methods. Pueblan potters hand-throw pots on a wheel and use a glaze of tin and lead. The technique allows only six colors made from natural pigments---mauve, green, orange, black, blue and yellow---and painted designs appear blurred because they fuse into the glaze. By law, authentic Talavera pottery must be inscribed on the bottom with the manufacturer's logo and location in Puebla as well as the artist's initials.

Guanajuato Majolica

Guanajuato, a state in Mexico's central highlands, sustains a majolica ceramic tradition from the colonial era when European pottery styles came to dominate ceramic production in the region. Majolica, a term derived from the Italian Renaissance term maiolica, is a type of earthenware covered with thick and brightly colored glazes. The process requires an underglaze---usually of a light cream color---which the artist paints before glazing and firing again. This results in shiny and colorful designs atop a white background.

Tonalá, Guadalajara

The main pottery-producing area of Guadalajara, Tonalá, is an established center for Mexican ceramics and the home of the National Ceramic Museum. Tonalá ceramicists use two distinctive decorative elements on many of their wares: the "flor de Tonalá" and the nahual. The flor de Tonalá is a flower with an oval center and scalloped petals, and the nahual is a Pre-Columbian shape-shifter deity represented as a smiling cat.

Barro Negro of Oaxaca

The Barro Negro, or "black mud" pottery of Oaxaca, unlike the traditions of Puebla and Guanajuato, dates back to the Pre-Columbian Monte Alban culture.
Oaxacan potters do not paint barro negro ceramics. Instead, the deep black color comes from the properties of the local clay they use. Barro negro was available only in matte gray until the 1950s, when a potter named Doña Rosa developed highly polished pots with a black sheen. Her technique of polishing the object's surface with a curved quartz stone is now widespread across Oaxaca.

References

• Mex Connect: Uncovering Tonala's History at the National Ceramics Museum
• Oxford Art Online: articles "Mexico" and "Majolica"
• "The Maiolica of Mexico"; E. A. Barber, PhD; 1908
• "A Guide to Mexican Ceramics ... "; Barbara W. Hopkins; 1999
• Inside Mexico: Talavera Poblana