Mask Fringe Necklace with Hardstone

Hardstone set into silver gives this MATL necklace its color and weight, the carved stone framed by the dense, baroque silverwork that defines the mark. The piece belongs to the workshop's polychrome tradition, where set stones animate the ornamented metal.

Stone-setting was a defining craft of the taller. Ricardo Salas, Poulat's nephew and close collaborator, was singled out for perfecting the carving of coral, turquoise, and other stones used in the jewelry and figurines (Morrill, p. 216). The workshop turned out an enormous range of pieces, Salas recalled some three thousand types of jewelry, with stone-set necklaces a steady part of that output (Morrill, p. 216).

Matilde Poulat introduced the "MATL" mark in 1934 as part of the post-Revolution search for a Mexican aesthetic rooted in Pre-Conquest and pueblo sources (Morrill, p. 216).