Zuni Inlaid Silver and Turquoise Ring [SOLD]

C3925Q-ring.jpg

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Artist Unknown
  • Category: Jewelry Rings
  • Origin: Zuni Pueblo, SHE-WE-NA
  • Medium: Sterling Silver, turquoise
  • Size: Size: 1-3/8” x ¾” Ring size: 6 ½
  • Item # C3925Q
  • SOLD

Before the arrival of the Spanish, the people of Zuni were making jewelry from finely cut and shaped pieces of turquoise and shell. Archeological evidence shows that the manufacture of turquoise jewelry by the ancestral Puebloans goes back at least a thousand years.  There is evidence that turquoise was traded as far away as central Mexico, with New Mexican turquoise being found in Mayan and Aztec ruins, with Chaco Canyon perhaps being the hub of a trading network for turquoise.

 

When introduced to silver work in the 19th Century by Navajo silversmith Atsidi Sani, who had learned silversmithing from a Mexican silversmith, it was only natural that the Zuni would incorporate their ability to work with stone into silver. This 20th-Century ring reflects the Zuni’s past expertise of their skill working with cutting small pieces of stone and setting them into intricate settings of silver.

 

The unknown artist cut 64 small pieces of turquoise and set them into silver channels. Not only did the artist cut each stone to fit within the small channel, he or she shaped the stones and the silver in a curve to fit the finger. The skillfulness required to do this is just amazing.  The ring has no missing pieces of stone and the silver has developed a beautiful smooth patina over time. It was made in the mid to late 20th century.

 

Condition: natural wear pattern

Provenance: from a private collection

Recommended ReadingNorth American Indian Jewelry and Adornment: From Prehistory to the Present by Lois Dubin

Alternate view of this Turquoise Ring.

Artist Unknown
  • Category: Jewelry Rings
  • Origin: Zuni Pueblo, SHE-WE-NA
  • Medium: Sterling Silver, turquoise
  • Size: Size: 1-3/8” x ¾” Ring size: 6 ½
  • Item # C3925Q
  • SOLD

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