Soft Wood Box with Dark Finish

A lightweight box of dark-finished softwood, its detachable lid carrying a raised silver plaque of a jaguar, this object comes from Spratling's later years and is stamped "El Jaguar Oaxaca" in the lower left, tying it to his Oaxaca venture rather than the Taxco workshop. The jaguar plaque set against dark wood is the wood-and-silver idiom of his late holloware, the silver image given pride of place on the lid.

From the Third Design Period, 1951 to 1967, the box reflects Spratling's continued draw to Pre-Columbian subject matter, the jaguar a central figure of ancient Mexican belief that the Las Delicias circle and its successors returned to repeatedly (Stromberg, p. 27). It is recorded in Morrill's Maestros de Plata.

The "El Jaguar Oaxaca" stamp is the distinguishing mark here. The condition of the softwood, the integrity of the silver jaguar plaque, and that stamp are what a collector confirms.