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Jewelry communicates many things—rank, status, place, and culture among them. Pueblo and Diné (Navajo) artists are celebrated for their extraordinary lapidary skill at combining stones like sky blue, often locally-mined, turquoise with red spiny oyster shell, dark blue lapis lazuli, and other stones to create architectural landscapes. Beginning in the 1970s, Angie Reano Owen reintroduced the extraordinary stone-on-shell inlay technique previously practiced by Pueblo artists. Creating a mosaic of small rectangular materials set in a herringbone pattern, Owen produces a design that is deeply rooted in her culture’s rich past. After mastering the technique she taught it to other members of the Reano family, who were well-known heshi (shell) beadmakers. Many in her family now produce similar jewelry. In 1992 this bracelet was awarded a blue ribbon at Santa Fe’s Indian Market.
Cuff bracelet
Angelita (Angie) Reano Owen (Kewa, born in 1946)
Native American, Kewa (Santo Domingo Pueblo)
about 1990–1992
Object Place: Santo Domingo, New Mexico, Southwest
Medium/Technique
Turquoise, spiny oyster shell, mother of pearl, lapis lazuli, shell
Dimensions
Overall: 7 x 7.6 x 5.7 cm (2 3/4 x 3 x 2 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
The Daphne Farago Collection
Accession Number2006.407
CollectionsJewelry, Contemporary Art, Americas
ClassificationsJewelry / Adornment – Bracelets and armlets
Jewelry communicates many things—rank, status, place, and culture among them. Pueblo and Diné (Navajo) artists are celebrated for their extraordinary lapidary skill at combining stones like sky blue, often locally-mined, turquoise with red spiny oyster shell, dark blue lapis lazuli, and other stones to create architectural landscapes. Beginning in the 1970s, Angie Reano Owen reintroduced the extraordinary stone-on-shell inlay technique previously practiced by Pueblo artists. Creating a mosaic of small rectangular materials set in a herringbone pattern, Owen produces a design that is deeply rooted in her culture’s rich past. After mastering the technique she taught it to other members of the Reano family, who were well-known heshi (shell) beadmakers. Many in her family now produce similar jewelry. In 1992 this bracelet was awarded a blue ribbon at Santa Fe’s Indian Market.
DescriptionCuff bracelet with herringbone pattern of inlaid stones on a shell cuff.
Provenance1992, division winner at the Indian Market, Santa Fe, NM. By 2004, sold by The Rainbow Man, Santa Fe, NM, to Daphne Farago, Little Compton, RI and Palm Beach, FL; 2006, gift of Daphne Farago to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 25, 2006)
CopyrightReproduced with permission.