WILLIAM SPRATLING SILVER NECKLACE

Silver necklace, circa 1940-1946, Signed by the American designer William Spratling, featuring Aztec dog motifs and onyx cabochons. Taxco, Mexico. Weight: 159 g. Spratling first visited Taxco in 1926 to study Spanish colonial architecture. After returning to New Orleans that fall, he longed for Mexico and its people, especially his artist friends Diego Rivera, Miguel Covorrubias, and David Sigüeiros. In 1929, he was commissioned to write a book portraying life in a Mexican village and decided to live in Mexico until its completion. He bought a house in Taxco, which he named Calle de las Delicias, near Plaza de la Borda, and settled there to write "Little Mexico." The book was completed in three years. However, Spratling lived in the same house for another 13 years. He remained there, motivated by a desire to improve Taxco's economy and foster the community's artistic spirit. He devised a plan to revitalize the once-flourishing silver mines and produce metal pieces for sale.