Everyday beauty

Winterthur, arguably the finest museum of decorative arts in the world, is showing a sumptuous feast of three centuries of Mexican pottery in a new exhibition, "The Grandeur of Viceregal Mexico: Treasures from the Museo Franz Mayer."

The home and legacy of Henry Francis DuPont in the Brandywine River Valley, Winterthur now bills itself as "An American Country Estate."

As befits the residence — home to 85,000 American antiques, a 60-acre naturalistic garden and a world-renowned research library — this display of pottery, painting, sculpture, inlaid and carved furniture, and silver, gold and iron pieces presents a marvelous look into the Mexican colonial past using art and everyday objects alike.

Of particular interest is the tin-glazed earthenware known as Talavera that was produced in Puebla beginning in the 16th century. These ceramics are some of the finest examples of cultural influences that inspired sophisticated, highly decorative household items in colonial Mexico. One piece of disclosure is probably in order here, as the writer recently returned from Mexico with a gift of a prized piece of Talavera.

The 150-plus items in this show were created between 1521 and 1821, and come from the collection of Franz Mayer (1882-1975), a German banker who immigrated to Mexico in 1905. The museum supplies this biographical information on Mayer: "He became one of the country’s top investors, eventually accumulating a vast fortune. Fascinated by the exotic and exuberant nature of a culture that was so different from his European experience, Mayer began collecting everyday objects from Mexico’s colonial past.

"Over the course of six decades, Mayer amassed an enormous collection that was particularly rich in furniture, ceramics, metal and textiles, as well as in period architectural details. When he died, he left his collection as a legacy to the people of Mexico. The museum named for him, housed in a beautifully restored 16th-century hospital in Mexico City, opened to the public in 1986."

Much of Mexican colonial art had been assumed to be relatively uninteresting as it was a true mixture of Old and New World influences. Today, with the impact of technology and globalization of the arts, the skills and creativity of the Mexican artist are viewed as extremely "modern" in that influences from around the world combined with native sensibilities to create extraordinary work. This can be seen most of all in the ceramics.

Talavera is often decorated with cobalt that came from North Africa via Spain, which the local artisans used in the style of costly Chinese porcelain. The patterns often reflect Islamic motifs, as well as decorative influences from Europe and native Mexican culture. The pottery is also robust, as the ceramics were meant to be used in daily routine.

Mexico City, which served as a connector between the culture and art of Mexico and that of the Spanish rulers, supported a rich upper class that liked to flaunt its wealth — thus the use of highly decorative everyday items. The items in this exhibition open the door on these intricate objects that complemented that lifestyle.

Some of the objects are unique to Mexican culture such as the coco chocolateros, cups made from polished and carved coconut shells, often embellished with silver. These cups were "required" in the salon de estrado, where upper-class ladies entertained visitors on a daily basis. Ladies routinely wore long dresses bejeweled and adorned with ribbons, lace and bows. Serving gallons of hot chocolate was the rule, and the cups show how deeply the mania for chocolate pervaded society of the time. Today’s coffee addiction pales before the cocoa craze in the 17th and 18th centuries in Mexico. Affluent ladies there would brew a cup with water, exotic spices and, sometimes, hot chilies. In fact, the custom was so entrenched that a moral treatise specifically addressed whether drinking cocoa was a violation of the fast ordained by the Catholic Church. It was.

Such extravagance was typical of the upper class in Mexico under Spanish rule. Less widely known is the extent to which this upper class devoted itself to the arts, which reflected their lavish customs, rituals and lifestyles.

There is a bilingual catalog accompanying the exhibition with essays by museum officials in Mexico and the organizing museum, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.

The Grandeur of Viceregal Mexico:
Treasures from the Museo Franz Mayer

Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library
Route 52, just south of Chadds Ford
Winterthur, Del.
800-448-3883
winterthur.org
Through Jan. 12
Museum admission: $10 adults, $8 seniors and students, $4 children 5-11