Working at Shungopavi on Second Mesa, Riley Polequaptewa has established a reputation through more than thirty years of silversmithing traditional Hopi jewelry. His work can be found in the Peabody Museum at Harvard and he is cited on page 259 of Greg Schaaf's
American Indian Jewelry; 1,200 Artist Biographies.
This uniform-width cuff has a lightly brushed finish and soft convex shape to its surface. Blowing cloud motifs mark the front of the cuff and this piece shows extreme attention to the detailed cut-outs of the overlayer and impeccable detail contained in the oxidized underlayer. It is the texturing of the underlayer which best illustrates the restrained beauty and understatement of Hopi jewelry. Imitations of Hopi jewelry never contain the intensely complex, time-consuming texturing of the underlayer. When buying such a piece online, you should be able to see this texturing clearly in the photos to help determine authenticity and judge the expertise contained in the piece.
Note on sizing: Hopi bracelets usually have some flex to them. Here's the point: Normally a person wearing this size cuff would want slightly more gap to a bracelet to comfortably put it on and take it off. A Hopi bracelet usually has sufficient flex to open an additional 1/8" to 1/4" when putting it on or taking it off; then it goes back to shape. This flex allows the maker to use a smaller gap and create a bracelet that "closes up" on the wrist and can't slip off because the gap is too large.
Hallmarked with Riley's bear paw hallmark and stamped "Sterling" inside.
Uniform width of cuff: 15/16"
Terminal to terminal: 5 3/4" Gap: 1"
Total inside circumference (including gap): 6 3/4"
**Important Note** Silver polish is the enemy of Hopi jewelry. It will get into the grooves of the textured layer and be hard to remove (you can use a toothbrush under running water to get it out). Also, don't use a cloth impregnated with jeweler's rouge to polish it. In most cases, the best polishing rag is a 100% cotton t-shirt that has been softened by repeated washing. After all, you only want to polish the top layer.
Hopi overlay jewelry consists of two layers of silverwork. The overlayer consists of a separate layer of sheet silver which has cut out designs made with a jeweler's jigsaw. The designs may be geometric, figurative or realistic. These designs almost always incorporate themes or symbols of Hopi religion since the Hopi perceive no separation in their lives between the secular and the religious. The underlayer of Hopi silverwork consists of a layer which is carefully hammered to create texture for that part of the design which will show through the top layer of "cut out" design. After creating this texture on the underlayer, it is oxidized to make it dark grey to black in color. Then the two layers are soldered together to create the full effect of a precisely cut out design brought to life by the dark textured underlayer. Precision of the "cut out" of the overlayer and intricacy of the texturing of the underlayer are the main criteria for judging the quality of the piece. Some Hopi jewelry is finished with a brushed surface and some is buffed to a high polish.
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