Quick Overview

Barro Negro "Black clay pottery" is distinguished by its black-silvery appearance and its crystal-like sound. The type of smooth black clay used for this pottery is found nowhere else, except Oaxaca.

The process of making pottery from barro negro is a traditional, indigenous, Zapotec art form principally practiced in Coyotepec, a village near the town of Oaxaca using only primitive tools. The pottery is embellished with intricate patterns, burnished smooth with a quartz stone to give it a brilliant metallic sheen, and then fired until the correct temperature is reached, oxygen-containing air is admitted for a critical period of time. This produces the black coloration.

Precise temperature and time definition is difficult because this process is an intuitive one, dependent on the skill of the Zapotec potter.