Special Value Offer: Navajo Sterling Silver Box with Rainbow Man Mosaic Inlay [SOLD]

Special Value Offer: We have been requested to price this silver box at 15% less than the previous price of $3500 to a new price of $2975.

CG Wallace came to Zuni in 1919 at the age of 21. Over the next 50 years he was decidedly the most influential trader of Zuni and Navajo jewelry. He supplied the highest quality materials to his artists and demanded perfection. In 1975 he decided to give part of his personal collection to the Heard Museum and the remainder was sold at a Sotheby’s auction. One of his silversmiths was a Navajo named Little Joe Begay who was active in the 1940s.  

Many of the pieces Wallace had made were collaborative efforts. He had Zuni lapidary artists do the stone and inlay work and the Navajos would do the silver work and place the completed Zuni item onto the silver.

This box is one of the finest we have seen in a long time. It sits balanced on 4 delicately stamped silver balls. The sides of the silver box are stamped with oval designs in perfect symmetry. The mosaic inlay Rainbow Man is set on the top with stamp work outlining the dance figure.

The workmanship on this piece is superb. There are many small details that make this a prizewinning work of art.  The inside has small sterling reinforcements in the corners and the wire hinges are set in a way that the box closes effortlessly.

Zunis have been working with stone since prehistoric time. They have used turquoise, shell and other materials to create jewelry and fetishes. With the arrival of the Spaniards they began to incorporate stones into silver. They continue to be the finest lapidary workers. The stonework on this box was done by a now- unknown Zuni artist and includes orange shell, jet and a beautiful light blue-green turquoise. Each stone is set evenly against the next to create a Rainbow Man figure. The Rainbow Man is a traditional Zuni figure. It is one that Wallace encouraged his workers to use.

The box is signed with a tomahawk hallmark, which was the hallmark of Navajo silversmith Little Joe Begay.

Condition: excellent original condition

Provenance: from the extensive collection of a Santa Fe resident who is unfortunately moving to another city and found it necessary to greatly reduce her collection.

Recommended Reading: Masterworks and Eccentricities: The Druckman Collection; Navajo and Pueblo Jewelry and Metalwork 1880-1950 by Robert Bauver