Uriarte Talavera

Uriarte Talavera is a traditional Talavera enterprise in the city of Puebla, Mexico, which has been in existence since 1824. It was begun as a family workshop by Dimas Uriarte, but today it is run by a business group. However, the enterprise still makes Talavera pottery using 16th century methods. Much of its work still uses traditional colors and designs, and eligible for certificates of authenticity by the Mexican government, but it has also experimented with new designs and forms since the early 20th century. This has included collaborating with various plastic artists to create modern designs and even artistic pieces .

Uriarte is one of the oldest producers of Talavera pottery in Mexico. This is a kind of majolica, named after the city of Talavera de la Reina which had developed in Spain from Arab and Chinese origins and brought to Mexico after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. While majolica was made in a number of places in Mexico, it became highly refined in the Puebla city area, especially from 1650 to 1750. Talavera work is distinguished by the fine clays found in this area, fired with a tin and lead glaze at high temperatures. This glaze is off white to slightly yellow. The decorations are done only in black, cobalt blue, blue, yellow, green, red and sometimes deep rose, with the design slightly fuzed with the glaze which crazes. Authentic Talavera is still made by the same 16th century methods as in the colonial period and all done by hand.

By the early 20th century, the craft was waning. However, reconstruction after the Mexican Revolution created a demand for tiles and collectors became interested in the work. Large collections were created in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Museum of Art. In Mexico, German born Franz Mayer started collection. In 1986, he opened his own museum with the largest collection of Talavera in the world with 726 pieces from the 17th to 19th century.

...
Wikipedia