Black Pottery in San Bartolo Coyotepec, Mexico

Well, it is true that black is my favorite color, so it is no surprise that I love the black pottery of San Bartolo Coyotepec.  I love to watch women carve floral scenes into the sides of the pots with household things like toothpaste lids.

Dona Rosa, pictured, is credited with developing the technique that gives black pottery its shine, and that led to black pottery being collected around the world.

For millennia, black clay pottery remained essentially unchanged and undramatic. Its function was basically for the manufacture of simple storage vessels. It was dull and unremarkable in its appearance.

Then, in the 1950's, Dona Rosa discovered that by burnishing the unfired clay using a quartz crystal, it produced a lacquer- like, silver glisten. This single discovery transformed the pottery into a new art form.