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About Vintage Mexican Pottery

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    History

    • Mexican regions are known for their own individual pottery styles. The potter was always given a great deal of importance in each village, according to the Mexican Ceramic website. In rural parts of Mexico, the techniques for making pottery have been handed down over the centuries and are still used today.

    Types

    • Three types of pottery make up the most popular of the vintage Mexican pottery that is sought today: glazed, burnished and painted. According to Lynn Doyle, in an article for "The Mexico File," glazed pottery is double-fired and has a shiny glazed surface. It's intended to hold liquids or for serving food. Burnished pottery is bare, sun-dried clay that is used primarily for decoration. Because it is single-fired, this pottery does not get a glaze as it's end result is a beautiful polished surface. Painted (or opaque) pottery is single fired as well but has no finishing process. This produces a rough, flat surface that can be damaged easily.

    Significance

    • Traditionally made by hand, Mexican pottery was crafted using coils (the squeezing and rolling of clay to make smooth and then stacking the pieces on top of one another in a circular fashion) or molds. This type of pottery was known as earthenware and was fired at low temperatures in bonfires. When the Spanish came to Mexico, they introduced the Mexicans to open-top kilns and the potters wheel. These are still sometimes used today in the smaller villages.

    Elements

    • Patterns and designs of vintage Mexican pottery reflect anywhere from the early Mexican culture to the European influence. Designs vary in pattern, according to Inside Mexico, from nature elements to geometric. Pottery was made in each region to be used functionally within the village.

    Identification

    • Some of the earliest pottery found is from the Olmec civilization. The Olmec usually crafted fertility totems, wide-hipped female figures and wheeled "toys," usually depicting animals.

      Talavera pottery (from Puebla) is one of the most famous and well known. According to Talavera history, the pottery is a mixture of Mexican, Arab, Chinese and Spanish influences. Any potters that were to produce Talavera pottery had to be members of the potter's guild and follow ordinances.

      Aztec designs, whether vintage or copies, are by far the most popular, with their use of red and orange clay. Teotihuacans were known to use clay and for their pottery as well as paint, stucco and a smoothing technique as decoration. They used molds, and war was a common motif.

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