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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 6 



Figure 18. — Loza blanca pottery designs. Illustrated are platters, bowls, cups, and plates. 



could make. In recent years Natividad has ex- 

 perimented with new forms and designs, and 

 has been copied by her mother, though less 

 successfully. Some of this ware has been ex- 

 ported to the United States for sale at fancy 

 prices in New York and San Francisco. Nati 

 also makes men on horseback, some with swords, 

 of loza blanca, and occasionally tries freehand 

 modeling of human figures, or Tarascan canoes 

 with their clay fishermen. 



The artistry in most Tzintzuntzan pottery lies 

 in its function. It is simple ware, well made, 

 for specific utilitarian purposes to which it is 

 well adapted. The average potter works skill- 

 fully, at a steady pace, doing a sound, thorough 

 job, neither skimping nor paying more attention 



to an individual piece than is deemed necessary. 

 The standard forms are graceful and esthetical- 

 ly satisfying primarily because they do well 

 the job for which they are intended. Decora- 

 tions on this utilitarian ware are limited to the 

 occasional notches pressed into the rims of ca- 

 zuelas, a few bolera and media bolera forms 

 with vertical fluted sides, a rare small chocola- 

 tero with a human face beneath the spout, and 

 the splotches of black glaze thrown on the bot- 

 toms of small cazuelas. Some ollas with black 

 glaze may show variations in handles, with per- 

 haps an additional ring of clay placed horizon- 

 tally between them and notched, for purely 

 ornamental purposes. 



Except for the ware of Patricio Estrada and 



