Charming and elegant, a delightful Maria doll wearing a red dress and bows in her hair decorates this ceramic plaque from Mexico. Maria Isabel Cruz creates the piece, crafted using the dry rope technique, in which a wax mixture made of magnesium oxide and fat are applied to the outlines of the image or motif prior to glazing. The wax mixture creates a barrier that keeps the different fill colors in the design separate during firing, before burning off to reveal the blackened ceramic beneath.

The charming doll originated in Mexico City when many Otomi and Mazahua people migrated to the capital in the 1970s. Due to their unique traditional clothing, the women became known as ‘Marias.’ An educational program was established for them and artist Diego Rivera’s daughter, Guadalupe Rivera Marin, encouraged crafting these popular rag dolls as a way to generate income in the 1980s. Artisan women took the idea home to their Mazahua and Otomi towns and the dolls became popular throughout Mexico and abroad.