Matl (Matilde Poulat) Vintage Mexican Silver Jewelry
The other day I came across the name of Matilde Poulat, a Mexican silversmith with whom I was not familiar. I decided to learn about her and to find some of her work to show here.
Senorita Matilde Eugenia Poulat of Mexico City (Matl) attended art school and was a classmate of the great Mexican artist Diego Rivera. She began her career as a painter and designer and began making jewelry in 1934. She created pieces that feature delicate textured detailing and often used tiny coral and turquoise stones in them. Jewelry created in Poulat’s workshop was signed “Matl.”
Her jewelry has a very rich look and has been described as having “Mexican feeling without recourse to any definite Mexican motifs.” It has also been said that her work may be the most intricate to come out of the Mexican Silver Renaissance. Much of the “Renaissance” work was modernist.
Before she died in 1960, Poulat trained her nephew, Ricardo Salas, as a jeweler; he continued to create pieces in the Matl style for many years.
The blog My Vintage Taxco Silver showcases vintage Taxco silver jewelry belonging to “Tia Gema,” who writes it. She has some great pieces, and photographs are included. One of my favorites is a Matl (Matilde Poulat) necklace.
Additional information about Matl and photographs of her jewelry are available at the Online Encyclopedia of Silver Marks, Hallmarks, and Makers’ Marks. The wonderful book Mexican Jewelry
I found some wonderful Matl jewelry on eBay:
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