Kewa Pueblo Corn Dance Mosaic Overlay Shell Necklace [SOLD]

C4439G-necklace.jpg

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Jeweler Once Known
  • Category: Necklaces
  • Origin: KEWA, Santo Domingo Pueblo
  • Medium: shell, turquoise, jet, beads, wax string
  • Size: 13” long (variable);
    2-⅝” x 2-½” shell
  • Item # C4439G
  • SOLD

Close up view of the shell.

This Kewa Pueblo Corn Dance Mosaic Overlay Shell Necklace was made by an unknown Kewa Pueblo artist.  The small seashell is overlaid on the upper half with beautiful and large rectangular shaped turquoise sections, below which is a row of white shell and black jet stones.  The remaining area of the shell is coated with shellac.  

The completed shell with the mosaic design was drilled for conversion to a wearable necklace, but the conversion was never completed prior to the previous owner purchasing it.  To make it usable in its intended form as a necklace, we asked our friend Carol Gala, a noted beadwork artist from Laguna Pueblo, to add the waxed string, which she embellished with multi-colored beads.  She tied off the string, leaving it to be adjusted by the owner to hang as desired.

In a published article on Santo Domingo Pueblo jewelry, Sally and J. Roderick Moore identify this style necklace as a “Corn Dance Necklace” made from a spiny oyster shell which has been overlaid with turquoise and inlaid with jet and white shell.  The example they display is dated circa 1900, a good indication of the popularity of such a necklace.

Seashell may appear to be an unusual item associated with New Mexico native jewelry, but this landlocked state has been the source for 400 years of some of the finest jewelry made from seashells.  What comes to mind mostly is heishe—a bead made from cutting and sanding small sections of seashell, when strung together, make fine necklaces.

Navajo and Pueblo tribal members had a trading route between New Mexico and California, and one between New Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico.  Individuals would walk or run from here to there, and there to here, to trade turquoise and other unique southwest items for seashells from the coasts.  Seashells would be used as body bandoliers, as beads on clothing, as items tied around legs to make sounds when dancing, and for making jewelry, such as this shell overlaid with beautiful mosaic gemstones.


Condition: excellent original condition

Provenance: this Kewa Pueblo Corn Dance Mosaic Overlay Shell Necklace is from the estate of a client from Maryland

Reference: “Santo Domingo Pueblo Jewelry” by Sally and J. Roderick Moore, published in The Magazine Antiques, July 2009

Relative Links: Southwest Indian JewelrySanto Domingo Pueblo - KewaNecklacesCarol GalaLaguna Pueblo

The string is left to be adjusted by the new owner to hang as desired.