Candelario Medrano Mexican Folk Art Polychrome Clay Bus Sculpture, Signed NL321

Hand-built in fired clay and painted in a saturated cobalt blue, this substantial vehicle sculpture depicts an exaggerated passenger bus or taxi with a rounded cab, oversized cartoon wheels, a teal undercarriage, and a red roof cap painted "MEXICO." The body is densely decorated with white and black speed-line details, yellow headlamps, red mirror forms, and modeled arms reaching out the open windows — the whole thing straining with the energy of a vehicle too full and moving too fast. The rear carries a yellow license panel inscribed NL321. At over seven pounds, this is a substantial studio-built object, not a tourist trinket.

The open cabin is populated with hand-painted passenger figures — a sombrero-wearing man in pink and yellow trousers, a companion figure in red, and additional figures toward the rear — rendered in the costumbrista folk tradition that celebrates the daily theater of Mexican road and street life. The tradition of ceramic vehicle scenes with interior genre figures is a recognized vernacular form with roots in Oaxacan and central Mexican folk ceramics, and pieces of this scale and narrative complexity represent the stronger end of that production. Three of the original five figures remain with the vehicle; two are absent.

CONDITION

Good overall with no remarkable damage. Firing imperfections are present in the clay body, consistent with hand production. No visible chips or cracks. Two of the original five passenger figures are absent; three remain with the vehicle.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Overall: 9" H × 6¾" W × 14" D
• Weight: 7 lbs 5 oz
• Material: Ceramic (fired clay), polychrome hand-painted decoration
• Signed: NL321 (rear license panel)
• Includes: 1 vehicle + 3 figures (2 of original 5 figures absent)
• Campbell's Soup Can (4" H) Shown for Scale — Not Included