Jesse Monongye Silver Bracelet with Red Coral Inlay [SOLD]

This silver and coral bracelet is both chic and, if examined closely enough, unique to Navajo Naton - Hopi Pueblo artist Jesse Monongye’s style.  He first began by shaping the silver to be the base of the bracelet.  After rounding the ends, two deep incisions were made that frame the central channel and run from end to end. 

The artist began the central channel a few centimeters in from the bracelets opening and chose a deeply saturated palette of red-orange coral pieces for inlay.  Placed in an alternating pattern of horizontally and vertically placed coral, each piece is highlighted for its variation in striation and hues.  The coral arches gracefully upward from its base, rounded but the most outreaching element of the piece.   

Monongye left his mark by placing four small, offset circles of other minerals inside the coral.  Three of these circles were inlaid with robin’s egg blue turquoise while the central circle is inlaid with gleaming silver.       

Jesse Monongye (1952-) is a wildly talented Navajo Nation - Hopi Pueblo jeweler living in Scottsdale, Arizona.  Jesse is the son of Preston Monongye—a famous Hopi jewelry artist.  Not meeting his father until he was in his early 20s, Jesse was raised on the Navajo reservation at Two Grey Hills, NM.  It is his Navajo upbringing and traditions he cites as the undercurrent for his work.  Jesse did not make jewelry until he was older and apprenticed with his father for four years before opening his own business.

Jesse Monongye’s name is sometimes published as Monongya.  Presently, he is well known for his intricate jewelry with stone inlay, including his night-sky designs.  He often features exquisite acoma jet, sugilite, corals, turquoise, and lapis lazuli gemstones, among others in his work.  His jewelry is in the collections of many museums throughout the United States.

HOW TO MEASURE YOUR WRIST FOR BRACELET SIZE

Condition: This bracelet has been worn, and such, a natural patina to the silver has occurred.  The integrity is intact, and this bracelet is in very good condition. 

Provenance: This Jesse Monongye Silver Bracelet with Red Coral Inlay is from a private Michigan collection. 

Recommended Reading: American Indian Jewelry III: M-Z,  2,100 Artist Biographies by Gregory Schaaf

Relative Links: Diné of the Navajo Nation, Hopi Pueblo, Hopituh Shi-nu-mu, Southwest Indian Jewelry, Preston Monongye, Jesse Monongye, Navajo - Hopi Pueblo Jeweler