Inlay is a Native silversmithing and jeweler’s technique for which a number of Southwestern peoples are known. It’s one of the hallmarks of Zuni Pueblo silversmithing, but it’s common among Diné jewelers, and appears frequently in silverwork by members of other Pueblo nations, as well. As with fetish carving, among all of the artisans in this part of the country who create such work, the Zuni are widely regarded as the masters of the craft.
Inlay work is exactly what it sounds like: stripped to its most basic definition, one material is permanently laid into a recess in another. For purposes of Southwestern Indian jewelry, that means taking pieces of cut gemstone (and by gemstone, I also mean other natural stone-like substances such as coral and shell and jet) and fitting them with precision into recessed settings in silver (or other metal) jewelry. Among the Zuni and Navajo, this sort of work has become a highly polished art form — polished in both senses of the word. Their artisans cut stones to very precise dimensions (and sometimes very tiny ones), and give their surfaces a mirror-like gloss, then fit them meticulously into specially-made recessed bezels. Once the stones are placed, they are separated by thin form-fitting lines of silver (or whatever metal the piece is made of), inlaid to a depth that leaves their own surfaces flush with those of the stones. It’s a good technique for making jewelry featuring the traditional “Sun God” faces, or faces of other katsinam.
There are also other inlay techniques, less frequently used. One is “raised inlay,” common to big, bold cuff bracelets and belt buckles, in which slabs of highly-polished stone are turned on their sides and placed into bezels, usually (but not always) without the metal separating bands). In such pieces, the stones are inlaid just as their flat counterparts, but they stick up beyond the surface of of the setting itself, sometimes by several millimeters. It creates a chunky, substantial effect with a lot of height and depth.
Another technique is its opposite: Known as “micro-chip inlay” until “microchip” took on a wholly different meaning, it’s now commonly called one or the other: “micro inlay” or “chip inlay.” In practical terms, there actually is a difference between the two. “Chip inlay” refers to inlay work made with small, usually less perfectly cut and polished pieces of gemstone — in other words, stone chips. They can be very tiny, or rather more substantial, but the key is that they are definite chips, and not cabochons or other pieces of stone cut to a velvety edge, nor polished until they feel like silk and look like glass. “Micro inlay,” on the other hand, is just what it sounds like: nearly microscopic. These are tiny bits of crushed stone and the remnants, the detritus, of the cutting and cabbing process, some of it cut and ground so finely as to be nearly mere dust. It’s a good technique for using every bit of a stone, letting nothing go to waste.
It is, however, a technique, particularly in the format described above, that has become associated with specific peoples. It has also developed a reputation, rightly or wrongly, among some populations of Native jewelers and artisans as an “easy way out” when it comes to silversmithing, one that requires only a single set of skills, acquired with practice but also with relative ease, and little creativity or artistic growth. Some of that perception no doubt arises from the fact that so much inlay jewelry is virtually interchangeable in look and style, regardless of the artist who made it, using the same motifs and the same combinations of stones in the same combinations of colors and patterns.
However, there are some artisans who specialize in inlay work who push those boundaries, who combine techniques or veer off in a new direction with existing ones, and who make inlay work into something new and wholly their own. Priscilla Aguilar is one such artisan. She’s from Kewa Pueblo (which most people know as Santo Domingo Pueblo; the people there voted some years ago to revert to their own name for themselves rather than use a label imposed by invaders). Kewa is known for its extremely talented, highly skilled beadworkers, artisans who have inherited artistic roles and skills passed down through their own families for centuries. Jewelers from Kewa specialize in all sorts of stonework, from heishi to jaclas to fetish jewelry to inlay work and more. Priscilla’s personal specialty focuses on the stone itself: simple slab earrings from stone cut to show off its inherent beauty, whether it’s the depth of color in mostly opaque stones, the glinting and swirling matrices of turquoise, or the repeating bands of serpentine; and free-form chip inlay, aggregating small pieces of stone together, subtly accented with fine silver bands, to combine color and texture and symbol in ways that magnify the stones’ beauty and power. I have several pairs of her earrings, accumulated over the years: turquoise slabs in various shapes and shades; coral chip inlay shot through with her signature sterling silver heartline.
We recently came across a box that contained several pieces of jewelry by other artists, some from Wings’s private collection that he acquired over the years through pawn and trade, some like Priscilla’s sold to us outright expressly for sale in the gallery. The last time we bought a collection from Priscilla, it comprised a couple of dozen pairs of earrings in a wide array of stones and colors and shapes. Most sold over the ensuing years, but five pairs remained, and somewhere along the line, these last few got boxed and set aside. Each pair is uniquely beautiful, but space is at a premium and it’s time for them to find their homes. To that end, we’ve put them on sale at $100 off.
The earrings in the photo above are a perfect example of her style, taking seemingly dissonant colors and textures and combining them into something that not only “matches” but takes on a whole identity of its own. From their description in the Other Artists: Miscellaneous Jewelry Gallery here on the site:
Small squares of spring green serpentine are carefully inlaid around a central diamond-shaped piece of natural coral edged in sterling silver. By Priscilla Aguilar (Kewa Pueblo), each is backed by banded green serpentine and trimmed with a sterling silver bezel.
Sterling silver; green serpentine; coral; banded serpentine
$235 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Now on sale at $100 off: $135 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Most inlay artisans use coral in very specific ways, combining it the traditional turquoise, mother-of-pearl, and/or jet. Done that way, it’s beautiful, but it’s also fairly common, and the coral is cut and cabbed completely smooth.
Priscilla, on the other hand, lets the coral speak for itself, in the textured beauty of its natural state, pits and ridges both visible and touchable. Set into a background of delicate spring-green serpentine chips, the blood-red coral looks like a pair od especially powerful Eyes of Spirit.
She combines red and green in other ways, too:
Sterling silver bezels in a triangle shape hold inlaid squares of pipestone, sacred to many of the peoples of the North. Bits of banded green malachite, edged with sterling silver, accent the center. By Priscilla Aguilar (Kewa Pueblo). Pipestone on the reverse side.
Sterling silver; pipestone; malachite
$235 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Now on sale at $100 off: $135 + shipping, handling, and insurance
For some peoples, it would be taboo to use pipestone in such a way; under their traditions, it is sacred, and to be used only for sacred pipes — canupas or calumets. Such is not the case for many other tribal nations, including those in this part of the country. Still, people here recognize the power and spirit in the stone and acknowledge the beliefs of the peoples whose traditions who limit its use, and so it is something to be used with respect, something to be conserved, never wasted. Taking the chips and forming them into something of beauty, that honors the spirit of the stone, is a good compromise.
The earrings above and those immediately below are a good example of free-form chip inlay, using slightly larger bits of pipestone.
These beautiful drops by Priscilla Aguilar (Kewa Pueblo) are created out of tiny randomly-cut bits of pipestone, a material sacred to many tribal nations. Here, each grouping of pipestone chips is inlaid into a sterling silver bezel and features an inlay silver heartline. Backed by a thin pipestone slab.
Sterling silver; pipestone
$235 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Now on sale at $100 off: $135 + shipping, handling, and insurance
RESERVED
If you look closely, you can see the randomness of shape of the individual chips, each fitted meticulously together to create a unified surface. The traditional heartline, a symbol of pueblo peoples, infuses the sacred stone of the North with the spirit of the South.
Sometimes, the stone itself requires a bit more work to create a similar effect. Pipestone is relatively soft, which makes it so good for carving. Turquoise, on the other hand, is hard, even brittle, often subject to fracture along matrix lines. This means that cutting and cabbing of the Skystone often results in breakage. But it’s a valuable stone. What to do with all of the broken bits?
Here’s an answer:
Tiny chips of brilliant blue sky, random bits of hardened rain fallen to earth, are pieced together in these inlay earrings by Priscilla Aguilar (Kewa Pueblo). Each collection of blue turquoise chips is bisected by an inlaid sterling silver heartline, all placed gently into a slender sterling silver bezel. Backed by pale green banded serpentine.
Sterling silver; blue turquoise; banded serpentine
$235 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Now on sale at $100 off: $135 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Here, you can see that many of the chips are much smaller, and much less uniform in shape. You can also see the bits of matrix along many of the edges, no doubt the actual points of fracture for some of them. But the stone itself loses none of its beauty for its lesser size, and so combining them into a randomized inlay pattern, looking like tiny bits of tiled sky, honors both the stone and the traditional taboos against waste.
Finally, we come to the last remaining pair — aesthetically, my favorite. These are a perfect example of how even free-form inlay can be used to create symbolic patterns that tell their own story.
Priscilla Aguilar (Kewa Pueblo) has evoked an intensely colorful kiva steps pattern from tiny rectangles of stone and shell. Beautiful rectangles of cobalt-blue lapis lazuli with a soft golden-white matrix form the steps themselves, lit from above by a soft peach and purple glow from bits of spiny oyster shell. All are limned by a thin sterling silver bezel and backed by a delicate slab of banded green serpentine.
Sterling silver; lapis lazuli; spiny oyster shell; banded serpentine
$235 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Now on sale at $100 off: $135 + shipping, handling, and insurance
I have no idea whether Priscilla intended this, or simply liked the contrast between the two materials within the constraints of the sizes and shapes available. I suspect that the pattern arose organically, but the extent to which it was driven by spirits of tradition, who can say?
All I know is that when I look at this pair, I see the ancient “kiva steps” pattern so long used by our potters here, a motif that appears in Wings’s own silverwork. And the contrast between the cobalt depths of the sacred space and the variegated colors of the light at dawn and dusk?
What a beautiful image to be able to wear, held close to your own spirit.
~ Aji
Note: We also have a few other pairs of earrings in varied styles and modestly priced, newly posted here, here, here, and here. We also have three newly posted strands of beads from another pair of Kewa Pueblo artisans, here, here, and here.
