- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Shell inlaid with turquoise and jet, part of the regalia of a medicine man.
- Long description
- Shell inlaid with turquoise and jet, part of the regalia of a medicine man. The shell is orange in colour with a large square of turquoise inlay. The edge has a band of alternating squares of black jet and turquoise stone.
- Geographical reference
- Cultural groups
- Zuni
- Date / Period
- Date made: Before 1939
- Date collected
- 1939
- Acquisition information
- Purchased: 1939
- Materials and processes
- Material Shell, Material Turquoise Stone, Material Jet, Material Stone, Process Carved, Process Inlaid
- Dimensions
- Length: max 79 mm, Width: max 79 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1939.8.31B
- Research and responses
Likely the work of Lambert Homer (1917–72)
- Associated publications
- Illustrated in colour in Plate 208 on page 157 of Surviving Desires: Making and Selling Native Jewellery in the American Southwest, by Henrietta Lidchi (London: The British Museum Press, 2015). Caption (same page): '208 Spondylus shell with turquoise and jet, c. 1939. This stunning mosaic shell pendant is sculpted and polished. The inlay is flush and the colours beautifully modulated. It was purchased by Blackwood at the Covelo Indian Market run by the Indian Arts and Crafts Board at the Golden Gate Exposition in 1949. A handwritten label inside states "Turquoise and jet mosaic on shell. Worn by medicine man. Modern work. American Indian. ZUNI PUEBLO. NEW MEXICO". It is likely the work of Lambert Homer (1917–72). 79mm (l.) x 79mm(w.). Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford (1939.8.31 B).' For a general account of the background to the PRM's acquisition of this object, see the section of Lidchi's book entitled 'Oxford: commissioning jewellery collections in the 1940s' (pages 156–61). [JC 29 7 2015]
1939.8.31B
Shell inlaid with turquoise and jet, part of the regalia of a medicine man.
On display
1939.8.31B
Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford
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