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Nineteenth-century Navajo and Pueblo silver jewelry

Magazine Antiques, Jan, 1998 by Paula A. Baxter

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After 1880 Indian jewelery makers developed a repertory of handmade dies to create stamped or repousse decorative elements (see PI. VI). However, these innovations were not universal, and many Indian silversmiths continued to use the same rudimentary tools until 1900, when a new wave of materials and tools altered the creation of silver jewelry.

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The earliest jewelry made by the Indians for their own use consisted most frequently of rings, buttons, bracelets, conchas strung on leather belts, and pendants of najas or crosses on necklaces of round or fluted beads. Early rings and concha disks appear to be copied from the trade jewelry of the Plains Indians. The concha belts of this first phase lacked buckles, and the disks were usually more round than oval, with six to eight conchas threaded onto the leather belt through diamond-shaped cuts in the silver [ILLUSTRATION FOR PLATES III, VIII OMITTED]. Buttons were fluted or domed. The first common bracelet patterns consisted of flattened, hammered, and engraved disks, or a silver band shaped into ridged, or triangular, keeled forms [ILLUSTRATION FOR PLATE V OMITTED]. Slender bracelets could be enlarged by joining several bands with twisted wire. By the mid-1870s cast-silver bracelets appeared, which were usually wider than their predecessors.(7) Originally, naja pendants were probably based on Spanish colonial bridle ornaments and may originally have been derived from a Moorish crescent design. The naja became a prominent fixture on Navajo silver necklaces. Cross-shaped pendants enjoyed more favor with the Pueblo, although both tribes made them [ILLUSTRATION FOR PLATE VII OMITTED]. Between 1880 and 1910 crosses with one or two crossbars were most often worn singly on a bead necklace. The early designs were derived from crosses traded by the French, including the double-barred cross of Lorraine.(8) The Indians attached their own symbolism to the cross, which represented the morning star to the Navajo and the dragonfly to the Pueblo [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 5 OMITTED].(9)

Despite technical limitations, the first generation of Navajo and Pueblo silversmiths devised a surprisingly formal and interesting vocabulary of design. In response to queries from observers like Matthews, the silversmiths claimed that they executed their works based on a conception of the finished product rather than a preliminary drawing.(10) They emphasized such features as mass, proportion, and repetitive patterns composed of lines and curves. Experimentation brought elaboration in design, but simplicity and a sense of balance in decoration remained. Stones were added in increasing numbers by the late 1880s, with turquoise and garnets favored [ILLUSTRATION FOR PLATE IV OMITTED]. Repousse work gained in popularity because it increased the sculptural effect [ILLUSTRATION FOR PLATE V OMITTED]. In the 1890s earrings made from wire hoops or tab stones were given dangle shapes, and increasing numbers of stones accentuated surface design.

The 1880s and early 1890s were the last. years when both the design and execution of Indian silverwork were largely untouched by external influences. The first centers for jewelry production usually developed near a government school or military base. Later, the railroads brought tourists and other visitors to the Southwest, redirecting the market for Indian crafts. Traders based on the Navajo reservation or near pueblos furnished local silversmiths with silver coins to melt and other supplies. Trading posts in Ganado, Arizona, and elsewhere acted as pawnbrokers for Indian silver jewelry or accepted it in exchange for goods sold at the posts.(11) Thus, the emphasis shifted to making jewelry more commercially acceptable to non-Indian buyers.

Nineteenth-century Navajo and Pueblo silver jewelry

Magazine Antiques, Jan, 1998 by Paula A. Baxter

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