Mosaic Inlay in Zuni Jewelry: The Stone-First Tradition
Mosaic inlay is the technique of cutting small pieces of turquoise, shell, coral, and jet to precise shapes, arranging them in a pattern on a silver backing, and securing them within a surrounding silver band. Despite the trade name "inlay," scholars have long noted the term is a misnomer: the stones are fitted and polished before the housing is made, making the result a mosaic rather than a true inlay. The technique is Zuni in origin and derivation, rooted in a lapidary tradition that predates silverworking by centuries.
Mateo's Field Notes
Bedinger caught the terminological problem squarely. As Sikorski observed in 1958, "The term 'inlay,' by now a fixture in the trade, is a misnomer since it implies, literally, a 'laying-in' of one surface into another. As the pieces are fitted and polished before the housing is made, the proper term would be 'mosaic.'" (Bedinger 1973, ~p. 145, citing Sikorski 1958:31) The confusion has historic weight: the technique Zuni artists developed in the twentieth century was a conscious revival and formalization of an ancestral practice.
The modern mosaic tradition traces to Teddy Meahke of Zuni. Kirk, writing in 1945, recorded that "stones for the first piece of historic inlay were cut by Teddy Meahke of Zuni about ten years ago [c. 1935], on a special order for Dr. F. W. Hodge, in a design copied from an ancient piece. Several of the Zunis were so interested in the revival that they in turn tried cutting stones for inlay work, using as inspiration for their designs, the religious art of their tribe." (Bedinger 1973, ~pp. 145–146, citing Kirk 1945:43) But Bedinger notes the record is not quite that clean: an inlay technique was already in use at least as early as 1927, suggesting Meahke's work was a formalization of ongoing experimentation rather than a first invention.
The four canonical materials in Zuni mosaic work — blue turquoise, white abalone shell, red spiny oyster, and black cannel coal (or jet) — appear in Bedinger's description of the Zuni pieces she examined: "Small pieces of blue turquoise, white abalone shell, red spiny oyster, and black cannel coal are arranged in a pattern on a silver backing, and the whole design is surrounded and held together by a silver band." (Bedinger 1973, ~p. 145) These four materials encode a color system — blue, white, red, black — that maps onto directional symbolism meaningful in Pueblo cosmology, though Bedinger does not attempt to detail the ceremonial dimension and neither do we.
The evolution toward mosaic from earlier Zuni casting is documented in the Knife-Wing god design. Early flat castings in silver of the Knife-Wing figure were first made, then decorated with turquoise pieces cut to fit parts of the figure. "The lapidaries soon became so expert that individual bezels were dispensed with and modern mosaic work resulted. The Rainbow and Sun gods were added to Knife-Wing, and other designs, described later, were used as time went on." (Bedinger 1973, ~p. 147) By 1940, when Adair surveyed Zuni, thirty-five percent of Zuni jewelers were doing mosaic work. (Adair 1944, cited in Bedinger 1973)
Collector's Handbook
- Run a fingertip across the surface. In well-executed mosaic inlay, the stone surfaces are level with the surrounding silver band. Any stone standing proud of its neighbors indicates incomplete grinding; any that sits below the band suggests shrinkage or adhesive failure.
- Examine fit and polish. Each stone should meet its neighbors at a precise cut edge. Gaps filled with dark adhesive (epoxy) are acceptable in some contemporary work, but gaps visible to the naked eye indicate hasty fitting. The polish on each stone should be continuous — no grinding scratches under raking light.
- The four-material palette. Historic Zuni mosaic used turquoise, white shell, spiny oyster, and jet or cannel coal. Contemporary work may substitute or augment. Knowing which materials are present, and whether they are natural or synthetic, requires magnification and ideally provenance documentation.
- Figure designs and Zuni attribution. Mosaic pieces featuring Knife-Wing, Rainbow Man, or Sun God figures are associated with Zuni in the primary literature. These designs in other inlay styles (chip or channel) may be made by non-Zuni artists; attribution requires documentation, not style alone.
- Distinguishing mosaic from channel inlay. In mosaic, a single surrounding silver band encloses the entire field. In channel inlay, internal silver walls divide the field into separate compartments, each holding its own stone. If you see silver lines running through the face of the piece, it is channel work, not mosaic.
In the Directory
Angela Cellicion (Zuni) · Bernice Leekya (Zuni) · Dan Simplicio (Zuni) · Marvina Dishta (Zuni) · Gerlinda Quam (Zuni) · Lena Dishta (Zuni) · Rhoda Kanteena (Zuni)
Primary Sources
- Bedinger, Margery. Indian Silver: Navajo and Pueblo Jewelers. University of New Mexico Press, 1973. ~pp. 144–148. Citing Sikorski 1958:31; Kirk 1945:43.
- Adair, John. The Navajo and Pueblo Silversmiths. University of Oklahoma Press, 1944. Survey data cited in Bedinger.
Related Entries
Chip Inlay · Cobblestone Inlay · Channel Inlay · Lapidary Stone Cutting · Zuni Nation