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Salvador Teran

Salvador Vaca Terán (1920 – 1974) Known primarily as a Mexican modernist, Salvador Terán was born in Taxco and was a cousin of the Castillo family. He began work for William Spratling (“The Father of Mexican Silver”) at Las Delicias in the 1930s.

He is considered an exceptional designer, innovator, and silversmithing technician whose specialties include mosaics and jewelry. In 1939, he left Las Delicias to become a founding member of Los Castillos, the renowned Taxco workshop that produced exquisite mixed-metal works. He stayed at Los Castillos, creating jewelry sold under their mark, until 1952. He then moved to Mexico City to open his own shop, La India Bonita that ultimately employed twenty-five silversmiths.

Terán is well known for trays, wall hangings, coffee sets, and boxes that are usually brass with brightly colored glass. His jewelry creations often make use of overlapping planes set against oxidized backgrounds.

He also uses pierced forms with shadowboxed backgrounds that make some of his pieces look surreal. Although his designs are often sleek and modern for the time in which he created them, Salvador was also greatly influenced by pre Columbian art. Terán pieces also combine metal with stone mosaics to create trays and pitchers.

A fine example of Terán’s jewelry design is a raw emerald necklace that is about 75 inches wide at the widest point and to measure for length, but only about 16 inches long when worn. It lays flat since it is wired from link to link giving it fluidity of motion.

All of Salvador’s work in jewelry and other disciplines is highly collectible, quite rare, and rarely surfaces on the vintage jewelry market.

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