MATL (Matilde Poulat)
MATL was the workshop of Matilde Poulat, based in Mexico City rather than Taxco, and it developed one of the most recognizable Mexican jewelry languages of the twentieth century. MATL pieces combine silver with coral, turquoise, amethyst, and pearls in densely symbolic compositions: crosses, birds, hands, hearts, flowers, and votive forms. The result is devotional and baroque rather than modernist, a parallel high language of twentieth-century Mexican silver.
Full biographyOpenClose
MATL, the workshop of Matilde Poulat, occupies a singular place in Mexican silver. Unlike the Taxco workshops, MATL was based in Mexico City, but it belongs in the broader story because it developed one of the most recognizable Mexican jewelry languages of the twentieth century.
Poulat’s work is deeply rooted in Mexican religious, folk, and indigenous visual culture. MATL pieces often combine silver with coral, turquoise, amethyst, pearls, and colored stones in densely symbolic compositions: crosses, birds, hands, hearts, flowers, saints, crowns, and votive forms. The result is not Taxco modernism in the strict Spratling-Pineda sense. It is more devotional, baroque, and talismanic.
MATL is important because it represents a parallel path: Mexican identity expressed not through streamlined modernism, but through sacred ornament, popular art, and symbolic intensity. In a museum context, MATL sharpens the definition of Taxco by contrast. It shows that twentieth-century Mexican silver had multiple high languages: Taxco’s modernist sculpture, and MATL’s mystical, jewel-like iconography.
Your collection
138 cataloged works by MATL (Matilde Poulat)
Save pieces as you browse with the + on any photo. A free account keeps them on every device.
Featured pieces
View all 138→
MATL (Matilde Poulat)
Oval Spiralwork Picture Frame with Turquoise and Amethyst
1934 or later
Turquoise
Collect MATL (Matilde Poulat)? Tap the corner of any piece to start your own collection page.
Quick facts
- Name
- MATL (workshop of Matilde Poulat)
- Location
- Mexico City
- Known for
- Silver with coral, turquoise, amethyst, and pearls in religious and folk iconography
- Principal marks
- MATL with 0.925 and Hecho en Mexico DF (1934-48); MATL with M. Regis 142093 (1950-60)
Museum collections
1 individually documented silver work by MATL (Matilde Poulat) in 1 public collection.
- Los Angeles County Museum of ArtLos Angeles, California
1 documented work
Questions
How can you identify MATL silver?
By the MATL mark with a fineness stamp, 0.900 to 950 on documented examples, often with Hecho en Mexico DF in the 1934-48 period and the M. Regis 142093 registration in 1950-60. The style is unmistakable: silver set with coral, turquoise, amethyst, and pearls in crosses, birds, hands, and other symbolic forms.
Is MATL a Taxco workshop?
No. MATL was based in Mexico City. It belongs in the broader story of twentieth-century Mexican silver as a parallel path: devotional and baroque where Taxco was modernist and sculptural.
Who was behind the MATL mark?
Matilde Poulat, whose workshop produced jewelry rooted in Mexican religious, folk, and indigenous visual culture. Documented marks run from 1934 into the 1960s.
Market Trends
Total Sales
436
Total Volume
$619k
Peak Year
2022 · $185k
Trend
+14% / yr
Total auction volume by year.
Mark Chronology
MATL · 0.900
MATL · 0.925 · Hecho en Mexico DF
MATL · 0.925 · Hecho en Mexico DF
MATL · 925
MATL · 950
M. Regis · 142093 · MATL · Mexico · 925
MATL · Mexico · 925 · M. Reg 142093
Hallmark Gallery
Work Examples
