Christopher Nieto is a relatively young artist from Santo Domingo Pueblo who has excelled beyond his years in terms of the exacting precision of his traditional necklaces, both in terms of design and execution of the component parts of his pieces. All of his beads are handmade, whether he is working with turquoise, jet, mother of pearl, red coral or spiny oyster. His mosaic inlay is also of the highest calibre of craftsmanship. His work is increasingly sought after and in May 2006 he won first prize for his necklace entry at the Indian Arts and Crafts Association (IACA) Show in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Until now we've only been able to offer these pendants as integral parts of Chris Nieto's necklaces; never as individual items. So many of our clients have bought Chris' multi-strand necklaces with pendants and we know that they interchange these pendants from one necklace to another. This inlay design is a beautifully crafted geometric design made up of perfectly fitting, hand-cut, smooth tiles set on a thunderbird-shaped foundation of serpentine. The bale of the pendant has a cross-section of bone at its center which serves as the foundation for the mosaic work. The pendant is free-swinging and has nice movement. This will fit the various fine heishi, multi-strand necklaces made by Chris and shown on our website.

A photo of Christopher (wearing one of his necklaces) can be seen in our Artists section under the letter "N".

Dimensions of pendant (excluding bale): 2 9/16" tall; 1 3/4" wide

Mosaic tiles: Kingman turquoise, jet, mother of pearl, abalone

Bale: 1" diameter; 3/8" wide; 5/8" diameter opening

Total hang: 3 7/8"