Bird Brooch with Turquoise and Amethyst

Set with turquoise, amethyst, and coral, this silver bird pin joins the MATL workshop's folk-art creature vocabulary to its full polychrome palette in a compact wearable form. The figural bird gives the piece its focus while the three stones supply its color.

Birds belonged to Matilde Poulat's recurring subjects, kin to the dove, flowers, and tiny bells that Morrill relates to the whimsical imagery of contemporary Mexican folk art (Morrill, p. 216). The set stones reflect the workshop's colored-stone craft, refined by Ricardo Salas as he learned to carve coral, turquoise, and other materials (Morrill, p. 216).

Poulat introduced the "MATL" mark in 1934 as part of the post-Revolution turn toward Pre-Conquest and pueblo sources (Morrill, p. 216).