Authentic-Talavera.com
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Your One Stop Source For On-line Authentic Mexican Talavera.
Description
Talavera is a type of white and glazed ceramic, very similar to the European Majolica earthenware that is still produced today. It is easily recognizable by the vividness of its colors and its intensely detailed characteristics that will, in Fine Talavera, have an "offset" or three-dimensional feel. In the Americas, it is the oldest tin-glazed ceramic and to this day, it is still manufactured in exactly the same way as it was when it first arrived from Europe in the early 16th Century.
The word Talavera originated in a small town outside of Madrid, Spain called Talavera De La Reina. In this town, even today, you can find a resilient culture based primarily on the art of making pottery. They have been producing a Majolica type of pottery for many centuries and it was the epicenter of the pottery arts in Spain.
After the Spanish had taken over Mexico, a small town named Puebla was established in 1531. Because of the abundance of quality clay in the region of Puebla, monks from the newly established monasteries would call on Master Potters from Talavera De La Reina to come and help them beautify the churches and monasteries in their new city with the same type of tiles made in Spain. Even though the potters from Puebla were already very accomplished in their art, they had not yet learned how to use a potters wheel or tin-glaze their pottery. The potters from Talavera De La Reina eventually taught the indigenous people of the region to make the Majolica type of pottery that came over from Spain. Because of the many churches and monasteries being built at the time in Puebla, making tiles to decorate them, as well as the religious sculptures, became a very profitable business. Puebla quickly became the most important Earthenware center of Nueva Espana, which in colonial times was the name for Mexico. Puebla now has the most churches and monasteries of anywhere in Mexico with all of them beautifully decorated in Talavera tiles. This makes it one of the top tourist destinations in Mexico.
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