Elaborately Styled Zuni Pueblo Sun Face Mosaic Inlay Earrings with Silver Drops [SOLD]

These Zuni Pueblo Sun Face earrings are a testament to master craftsmanship in both lapidary work as well as silversmithing. The mosaic pieces are precisely rendered and the beautiful silverwork is the perfect frame for the mosaic stonework. An unknown Zuni artist cut small pieces of turquoise, jet, coral and mother-of-pearl which were then set in a delicate frame of silver. The traditional Zuni Sun Face consists of a lustrous mother-of-pearl face with jet eyes and nose. The forehead is made of sections of red coral, turquoise and jet. The entire face is surrounded by a fine sawtooth bezel. The face is framed by twisted wire and tiny silver drops. Five teardrop pieces of turquoise set in individual bezels and a thin wire of silver form the headdress.  

Although the Tawa, or Sun Katsina is an important part of Zuni ceremonialism, the use of the Sun Face was most probably prompted by the rise of tourism in the Southwest in the 1920s. According to Margery Bedinger in Indian Silver: Navajo and Pueblo Jewelers, “Before 1920, the Zuni smith, like the Navajo, had made his silver for his own consumption, or to sell to other members of his tribe. It was designed accordingly. At first it was this jewelry that the traders picked up. Next the traders persuaded the Zuni smiths to make ornaments for them to sell to tourists.  This change affected the Zunis just as it had the Navajos. As the Zuni smith worked with the tourist in mind, much of his silver became the Indian’s idea of the trader’s idea of what the white man thought was Indian design.” 

These earrings date from the 1940s or 1950s and were made for the tourist trade. As was common for the time period, these earrings are unsigned. 

Condition: The Elaborately Styled Zuni Pueblo Sun Face Mosaic Inlay Earrings with Silver Drops  are in excellent condition

Provenance: From an Albuquerque collection

Recommended Reading: Indian Silver: Navajo and Pueblo Jewelers by Margery Bedinger

Relative Links: Zuni Pueblo, Diné, earrings, Southwest Indian Jewelry