Dove Cross Pendant with Turquoise, Amethyst, and Coral

A single dove, set with turquoise, amethyst, and coral, concentrates the MATL workshop's signature motif and full polychrome palette into one pendant. The form distills everything the mark is known for to a compact wearable focus.

The dove was central to Matilde Poulat's design vocabulary, named by Morrill alongside flowers and tiny bells as a subject reminiscent of Mexican folk art (Morrill, p. 216). The three set stones reflect the workshop's colored-stone craft, a skill Ricardo Salas perfected 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 search for a Mexican aesthetic rooted in folk and Pre-Conquest sources (Morrill, p. 216).

Record data: the note has always described coral in this pendant, but the title and the Materials field omitted it, and Materials omitted the metal as well. The title now reads Dove Cross Pendant with Turquoise, Amethyst, and Coral, and Materials read silver, turquoise, amethyst, coral. Because the catalog allows three material slots, amethyst and coral share the third.

Date and attribution: the Date field previously read "1934-present," a workshop lifespan rather than a date for this object. No photograph of the mark is held, so the date is recorded as unknown. Matilde Poulat died in 1960; MATL from her own workshop is therefore pre-1960, while post-1960 production under her nephew Ricardo Salas carries MATL-Salas. The record should not assign the pendant to either period until the mark is read.