Zuni Jewelry

There are many styles and designs used in Zuni jewelry.  Cluster work contains four or more stones grouped together on one particular area of the piece.  Inlay is the technique where pieces of stone or shell are precisely cut to fit into channels or grooves of silver.  The three types of Zuni inlay are flat, raised and etched.

Zuni flat inlay is when the stone is ground flat on top after it is placed in the silver opening.  It may also be referred to as channel set.  When flat inlay is used to design a representation of a  scene, animal or flower, it may be also be called mosaic inlay.  In raised inlay, the top of the stone is rounded on top.  This is also called cobblestone, or corn-row inlay.   Etched inlay is the most difficult of all the Zuni jewelry techniques and is very artistic.  After the shell or stone is set in the manner of flat inlay, a design is etched into the surface.  Zuni jewelers most often depict birds and flowers; sometimes animals.

True Zuni jewelry needlepoint is made with very small slender stones that are shaped to a point on both ends and bezel set.  Petit Point is the use of oval stones that finely ground to a point on only one end and set in bezels.  Snake Eye is when a number of very small round stones are each set in a bezel. 

Below you will find examples of all six techniques used in Zuni jewelry.  One thing to remember, however, is that although the design may appear to be Zuni, there are a number of Navajo silversmiths who make jewelry using inlay and cluster methods.  One well known artisan is Calvin Begay, a Navajo who only does inlay.

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