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This example — with a parrot figure and a fully hand-hammered body — represents the domestic strand of a taller whose identity is more readily associated with jewelry and metal-inlay table objects.
The parrot motif draws on the native fauna vocabulary that runs through Taxco's decorative output, giving a naturalist Mexican character to a utilitarian vessel. The hammered surface is built through the embutir or repoussé process Morrill describes as foundational to the Taxco smithing tradition: working from the reverse of the sheet, the silversmith drives a ball-ended embutador against the metal to raise texture and relief that catches light at each angle and animates even a simple domestic form (Morrill, Mexican Silver, 1994).
Silver plate, rather than sterling, was the material of choice for hollowware that Los Castillo produced for a broader domestic market — objects intended to be used rather than kept behind glass.
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