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A particularly striking and beautiful pair
of Michael Kabotie Hopi silver “Triple-overlay” style earrings, c.1990’s
Let’s talk about the ultra-rare and the ultra-difficult to come by. Michael Kabotie’s (1942-2009) marvelous
Hopi silver overlay jewelry is just about the hottest thing going in the world of Native American art today. Michael’s pieces have become more scarce than ever before since his untimely death sixteen years ago and the demand for them
has continued to skyrocket.
To paraphrase, Michael always used to say that jewelry was his livelihood, but that his real love was painting.
But, to us, it is his remarkable and now increasingly rare jewelry that will become his most lasting artistic legacy.
And while all of Michael’s jewelry is fairly rare, his earrings are among the hardest pieces of all to come by.
Over the past 35 years we have only seen five pairs, including this pair.
A detail of a 2001 Michael Kabotie Hopi mural study drawing depicting The San Francisco Peaks outside Flagstaff, Arizona as being the legendary ancestral home of the Hopi Kachina spirit beings.
Michael Kabotie, c. 2004
Photo source and © "Totems to Turquoise", American Museum of Natural History, Harry Abrams, New York, 2003, pp. 176-177.
“We the Hopi have a lot to offer from a spiritual standpoint and as a living force. We are hoping that from the presentation of our traditions and from the interpretation of the Hopi way in our art and paintings a new direction can come for American spirituality.”
-Michael Kabotie
These marvelous circular post earrings are beautifully done in round raised and tapered disc shapes. Depending on which way you look at them, they have wonderful highly-stylized Hopi Kachina face mask designs and also some cloud terrace and rain design motifs. As he always did on his special “Triple-overlay” silver pieces, Michael has subtly accentuated the silver overlay with cut-outs, darkening, etching, notching and other texturing in various areas around the earrings which adds complexity to the designs and gives the appearance and feeling of greater depth and relief.
The earrings are mounted on silver posts and they measure 7/8" in diameter at their widest points and they are 1/4"
in height. They weigh a very comfortable and extremely easy to wear 6 grams or 1/4 ounce each. They are in excellent original condition with a slight amount of age-appropriate wear and they are properly signed “Lomawywesa” Michael Kabotie’s Hopi name, in his customary graceful cursive signature on the back of one of the earrings. One of the silver posts is slightly bent which is of no real consequence and could be easily straightened, if desired.
Take a good long look at these lovely and elegant earrings but don’t look too long, they’ll likely only be here for a short time. And, remember Ladies and Gentlemen, Valentine's Day is coming very soon. What better way to make yourself look good while making your significant other look good?
SOLD
