MARK OF WILLIAM SPRATLING, TAXCO, CIRCA 1940

William Spratling (1900-67) began his career as an artist, architect, and professor at the School of Architecture at Tulane University. After spending summers in Mexico, he moved to Taxco permanently in 1929 and set up a small silver studio. Spratling was inspired by Pre-Columbian Mexican art, Aztec designs, and ranchero motifs and incorporated them into his work. By 1940, he employed over 300 artisans and in 1944 he was asked to travel to Alaska by the Department of the Interior to teach the Native Americans silversmithing. (See: Penny C. Morrill, William Spratling and the Mexican Silver Renaissance, 2002.)