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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 6 



Figure 16. — Tinaja forms, a. Water jar (botelloii). b. Bird water jar. c. Beer mug. 



true "primitive," as can be seen from her repre- 

 sentations of men and women, of fishing scenes 

 in the lake, of mother pigs suckling their young, 

 or of cows, burros, horses, and birds. After a 

 batch has been painted each dish is dipped in 

 the red glaze, actually a cream color in this 

 stage, which obscures the design. After firing, 

 the glaze becomes transparent and the design 

 shows through. Figures 17, 18, and 19 illustrate 

 loza bianco designs. 



Loza blanca is an ancient technique which 

 has been modernized. When Dona Andrea mov- 

 ed to Tzintzuntzan from Quiroga about 1902 

 and took up pottery, there was one old woman 

 who made pinipites, decorated only with the 

 palmita design, for sale to the Tarascans of La 

 Vuelta. Dona Andrea learned this technique, 

 and carried on with the one form and design, 

 teaching it to Natividad when the latter began 

 to make pottery. Natividad, who is far more of 



an artist than her mother, began to experiment 

 with designs of birds and animals and flowers, 

 but still with the old basic form. 



About 1940 a tourist guide, Manuel Valen- 

 suelo, recognized the possibilities of this ware, 

 and asked Natividad to make a large comal 

 painted with birds, flowers, and so forth. This 

 turned out so well that he asked for a complete 

 set of plates, and suggested other designs such 

 as fish, people, canoes, and nets, but warned 

 her against the needlepoint design cards sold 

 in all markets, and other artistic dangers of 

 civilization such as cars and trains. Subsequent- 

 ly he suggested the fruit dish and drew a design. 

 Nati saw in it the form of the two bowls of 

 unequal size, and by placing a large one on the 

 base of an upturned smaller one, she solved the 

 technical problem. Valensuelo called the atten- 

 tion of a Mexico City curio dealer to the new 

 ware, and he contracted to buy as much as she 



