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Turquoise and amethyst set into silver make this necklace a clear example of the color combination most identified with the Matl workshop, the two stones playing against the dense, baroque metalwork across the front. The pairing is the shop's polychrome idiom at its most recognizable.
Colored-stone setting was the taller's defining craft; Ricardo Salas, Poulat's nephew and collaborator, was singled out for perfecting the carving of turquoise, coral, and other stones used in the jewelry (Morrill, p. 216). The workshop's vast output, some three thousand types of jewelry by Salas's count, included many such stone-set necklaces (Morrill, p. 216).
Matilde Poulat introduced the "Matl" mark in 1934 as part of the post-Revolution search for a Mexican aesthetic rooted in Pre-Conquest and pueblo sources (Morrill, p. 216). Turquoise-and-amethyst necklaces are among the more frequently encountered Matl forms, making them an accessible example of the workshop's signature palette.
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