Large Articulated Fish Box

An articulated silver fish, hinged so it opens at the bottom, this heavy box is a sculptural object first and a container second: the segmented body flexes like a real fish, and a malachite eye supplies the one note of color. The construction, a box disguised as a swimming creature, is among the more ambitious conceits in the workshop's hollowware.

The box belongs to the First Design Period, 1931 to 1946, and per the existing record is larger than the related fish box Spratling made in the 1960s, marking it as an early and substantial version of the design. The marine subject and the appetite for an articulated, mechanically worked form reflect the Taxco school's openness to complicated, experimental construction (Stromberg, p. 41).

Articulated figural boxes were demanding to make and survive in very small numbers, making this among the more sought-after of the workshop's objects.