Antique & Vintage Postcards

A lone guard stands silhouetted in one of Mexico's most spectacular colonial doorways — the intricately carved Plateresque portal of La Huatapera in Uruapan, Michoacán, founded in 1545 by Franciscan friar Juan de San Miguel and later converted into the Museum of Indigenous Art. The richly ornamented stone arch, encrusted with intertwining vines, figures, and floral reliefs, frames the heavy wooden doors with a sculptural density that rivals anything in Europe; above the arch a niche shelters a small saint. This is a real photo postcard (RPPC) produced by Fotografía Duarte of Uruapan (Independencia 5), catalog number D-142. The front image is a slightly warm-toned photographic print on postcard stock; a second detail enlargement of the same photograph is included, showing the full relief of the doorway carvings and the figure of the guard in olive military dress. The reverse is unused, crisp, and clean.