Mexican Silversmithing History
Western
Silver Information | Glossary
of Jewelry Terms
While the craft of making silver jewelry is a relatively recent
development among Indians of the American Southwest, this is far
from the case in Mexico. There, the Spanish taught the Indians to
work silver centuries ago. The result over time has been the emergence
of a unique Mexican style of silver jewelry combing the Spanish
love for bold, dramatic effects with the native talent for colorful,
expressive decoration.
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Mexican jewelry often brings to mind a picture of heavy silver pieces
with pseudo-Aztec motifs, set with green or black stones and ornamented
with silver domes or balls to give them a „primitive look.
The style originated around 1920 when Mexicans began making silver
jewelry for the ever-increasing numbers of tourists. The tourists
eagerly bought up the jewelry and the designs were copied by hundreds
of silversmiths who could make jewelry but were not capable of designing
it.
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The contemporary silver jewelry industry in Mexico began in the
mid-1920s and coincided with a great revival of interest in archaeological
research. Museums were adding excellent examples of pre-Hispanic
art and publishers were bringing out important new books on archaeological
subjects. Taken by the beauty of ancient Indian designs which made
traditional styles pale by comparison, the better jewelry designers
began to incorporate them in their work. Interestingly, two Americans
were at the forefront of this new direction in Mexican jewelry making.
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Fred Davis left medical school in Chicago in 1910, moved to Mexico,
and took a job buying curios and folk art from artisans in all parts
of Mexico. He developed a fascination with the popular arts of Mexico
which eventually gravitated into silver jewelry. Davis worked with
silversmiths in Mexico City, encouraging them to make silver jewelry
for his shop which he described as "unmistakably Mexican."
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He took naturally to designing silverwork, jewelry, flatware, serving
pieces and boxes and ultimately to producing it himself. In his
years as manager of antiques and fine crafts at the famed Sanborn's
department store in Mexico City, Davis influenced countless Mexican
silversmiths through his ideas on style and design.
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William Spratling, trained in the United States as an architect,
came to the beautiful mountain community of Taxco, Mexico in 1929.
Within two years, he turned his talents to designing and making
jewelry and established a workshop. By 1940, he had over 100 silversmiths
in his workshop producing Spratling designed silver jewelry that
tourists bought up almost as quickly as it was produced. The list
of men and women who learned their craft in his workshop reads like
a Who's Who of the Mexican silver jewelry industry.
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Many of Spratling's smiths and others who learned from them went
on to found their own shops and produce works still eagerly sought
by collectors.
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Here are just a few of the famed Mexican designers whose work you
will find in our shop: Hector Aguilar, Antonio Piñeda, Victoria,
Beto, Margot of Taxco, Los Castillo, Los Ballesteros, Maricela,
Alfredo Villasana and of course, William Spratling and Frederick
Davis.
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