Sea Shell with Inlay Necklace from Santo Domingo Pueblo [SOLD]

Shell was used as an adornment by the Ancestral Puebloan people long before the introduction of silver by the Europeans. Shells with inlaid stone have been found at prehistoric sites across the Southwest. Shells were traded with tribes that were closer to the sea and were considered a valuable trade item. Necklaces such as this one have been made for hundreds of years. In this necklace small pieces of Turquoise, Coral and Jet have been placed to create a design of a sun with rays or perhaps a Katsina mask. The ambiguity is part of the charm. The shell hangs on a string of white shell hieshe.

Provenance: From the estate of Transcendental artist Florence Pierce of Albuquerque who passed away in 2007 at the age of 89. She was best known for luminescent paintings made of pigmented resins on reflective surfaces. Her interest in abstraction began in the 1930s when she was an associate of the Transcendental Painting Group. The New York Times called her “the doyenne of abstract art in the Southwest” following her art exhibit in New York City in 2006.