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| Diego Rivera gave this necklace to Frida Kahlo. On the back is an inscription "Te quiero Sapo" |
Federico Jiménez, originally from the village of Tutuepec, resides
in Southern California where he has been collecting and making jewelry for many
years. Today he is a world renowned authority on Mexican silver, Pre-Columbian
and Mixtec jewelry. In 1965, Federico and Ellen Belber Jiménez started a
collection of jewelry, gold and silver work, textiles and popular art. This collection is exhibited in the
Belber Jiménez Museum. The museum
was opened with a view toward revaluation of these objects as examples of
Mexican design and to show how the past serves as inspiration for the present.
The Belber Jiménez Museum has four thematic rooms and a room for temporary
exhibits.
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| From San Pedro Tututepec and in the Jimenez family for generations the Mixtec necklace features a bead made by the lost wax process with two eagle heads. |
Starting in the room of Mexican jewelry and metalwork, where you can
observe archeological and colonial pieces, as well as those of an independent
Mexico. There are also the works
of
designers of the twentieth century, among whom William
Spratling, Antonio Pineda and Matilde Poulat stand out. One of the most popular
pieces of the collection is the necklace worn by Frida Kahlo when she died,
given to her by Diego Rivera and inscribed with "Te quiero, Sapo" (I
love you, Toad). The next room holds diverse expressions of popular Mexican
art, from wooden chests from Oaxaca and Guerrero to figures of clay and glazed
ceramics from various regions of the country.
The room dedicated to textiles
has principally articles from Oaxaca.
The displays are arranged so that you can see the richness of the
weaving on both sides of the pieces. Finally, the temporary exhibit
that inaugurated the Belber Jiménez Museum is dedicated to the textile richness
which is found both in the sarapes of Saltillo as well as the weavings of
Teotitlán del Valle. An English guidebook is available which describes the
background of each exhibit, and there is a store selling jewelry and
antiques. It is located at
Matamoros No. 307 at the corner of Tinoco y Palacios, telephone: 514 50
35. Hours are Monday thru Friday
10.00-14.00 and 16.00-18.00. Saturday 10.00-14.00. For more pictures and a closer look please visit my picasa web album where you can enlarge the earrings below to admire the filigree.
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| These earrings from the 18th century are called El Jardin and form a filigree cocoon with coral beads. |
