In light of Wings’s newest collectible, the miniature shaker we featured here yesterday, I thought we’d use today’s #ThrowbackThursday post to revisit one in a series of his collectible miniatures from six and seven years ago.
He’s crafted similar miniatures for many years now, but the series he made over a period spanning mid-2008 and 2009 were especially beautiful. They were also especially popular; frequently, I’d bring a new one into the gallery, only to have it sell in a matter of days (or even hours).
One of my all-time favorites was the one featured here today.
According to my records, he made this one in the early weeks of 2009. It’s a miniature seed pot, formed and shaped in the style of the Pueblo’s own traditional micaceous pottery. But when it comes to pieces like this, Wings’s medium permits great flexibility, and he designed the individual pieces in this series to look like incised clayware, with complex designs etched into the surface. In actual clayware, this would done with any of a number of tools, preparatory to firing; in his chosen medium of sterling silver, he creates a like effect via hand-stamping.
This one is a miniature pot, one with a lengthened neck of the sort typically found on an olla, or water jar. In actuality, a full-sized clayware version might have been used for water; a smaller clayware iteration might have been used for storing seeds.
Whatever its real-life counterpart’s actual purpose, this one finds form as a tiny spirit jar. I no longer recall who purchased it; perhaps that person uses it to store seeds or tobacco or some other substance in small amounts, but I suspect it rests upon a shelf or mantel, finding expression solely as a piece of art.
And art it is.
Wings creates these in a variety of forms, some with minimal stampwork, others as elaborate as the one you see here. Sometimes they’re open bowls, with or without overlay patterns inside; others are small pots and jars similar to this one. Occasionally, he’ll craft one with a neck that is purposefully left uneven, “chipped,” as is frequently seen in the actual family clayware that sees long and regular use over a period of generations (or even centuries).
This one, however, was a spirit jar through and through: an example of finely detailed work that would be used only for the most special of purposes. the neck is smooth and uniform, soldered onto the jar so seamlessly that it appears to rise organically out of the body of the jar itself, as would be the case with its clay counterpart.
The entire jar is accented with chased patterns, hammered deeply and evenly into the surface of the silver: A dozen arrowhead designs ring the neck, tips pointing outward toward a wider ring of rising suns. Beneath the sunrise symbols, thunderheads form, uniting in an encircling hoop to bring the water that is life in this place.
But, as is nearly always the case with Wings’s work, the design goes deeper than the immediately visible surface. The bottom half is likewise adorned with powerful symbolism.
Beneath the row of thunderheads, on the lower portion of the jar, Eyes of Spirit hover over a smaller hoop of lodge symbols. At the center of the little jar’s base, ringed by another circle of sunrise symbols, are four feathers placed at the Four Sacred Directions, forming an image that evokes a Guiding Star, a representation of Eagle as celestial guide.
Of all the jars Wings created in similar fashion over the years, this one was perhaps the most elaborate, and the most perfect. It was a stunning little piece, taken entirely on its own in the most superficial sense. Looking deeper, at the symbolism layered atop of representation of an object so integral, so fundamental, to his people’s daily lives, lived in this way for more than an thousand years and counting, and it shows itself to be a very special miniature indeed: a microcosm of his world, captured, collected, in the permanence of sterling silver.
~ Aji
[Note: We have none of Wings’s sterling silver pottery miniatures remaining in inventory at the moment; the last one sold a half-dozen or so years ago. He has, however, expressed an intent to return to the series. If it’s a style that speaks to you, and you’d like him to create one for you, simply inquire via the Contact form at left.]
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owners.
