Mexican Ceramics
![Vase, mid–18th century, Mexican](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/f23a1pgq/pma_production/412604ada5be04b5781986cbe44103fc16c9c60f-2848x4256.jpg?rect=0,1028,2848,2136&bg=f2f2f2&w=640&h=480&q=80&fit=clip)
Under Spanish colonization, Mexico became a key link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, enabling an important trade route between China, the Philippines, and Europe. Mexican ceramics from the 1600s through the 1800s reflect a corresponding blend of artistic influences. Potters combined production techniques introduced by Spanish colonizers; decorative schemes borrowed from the highly valued blue-and-white Chinese porcelain passing through Mexico en route to Europe; and imagery drawn from the surrounding landscape. These tin-glazed earthenware vessels, tiles, and other functional items (collectively known as “Talavera” pottery after Talavera de la Reina, a historic center of the Spanish ceramic industry) sometimes also depict colonizing Europeans, figures in Chinese dress, and indigenous Mexicans—underscoring the cross-cultural complexity of the colonial period.