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A superb Hopi silver overlay pendant of a

stylized Hopi female or male figure by Michael Kabotie (Lomawywesa), c.1980’s-90's

THIS TERRIFIC SILVER PENDANT is a product of the talented hands and fertile mind of the great Hopi Jeweler and Painter, Michael Kabotie (Lomawywesa,1942-2009). Michael Kabotie comes from a most distinguished artistic lineage,

he is the only son of the renowned Hopi painter and educator Fred Kabotie (1900-1986) and he became an artist at an early age. In the 1970’s, Michael was a co-founder of the Artists Hopid, an indigenous Hopi artist’s cooperative whose artists were dedicated to presenting new interpretations of traditional Hopi art forms and who through their work explored and greatly expanded the artistic possibilities of Hopi culture.

Michael’s work was prominently featured and discussed in the seminal “Totems to Turquoise” exhibition and publication

at The American Museum of Natural History in New York City in 2004-2005. In 2010, Michael was recognized by the Heard Museum in Phoenix as their “Signature Artist” for the 2010 Heard Museum Indian fair and market.

This pendant’s design and trapezoidal diamond-like shape is unique and striking. It is a stylized Modernist pictorial representation of a standing Hopi human figure, possibly man, possibly woman, wrapped in a wearing blanket. The human figure stands out in carved and polished relief against a recessed dark oxidized background in the classic style of Hopi overlay silver. The Hopi hairstyle and face are clearly and neatly delineated by a single horizontal stamped line and the geometric presentation of the blanket the figure wears is just beautifully done. The integration of representational and abstract elements in the design is seamlessly accomplished and simply masterful.

“You beat up on your material, bang it around, scratch it, cut it, torch it, throw it

into acid, and bang it around some more, file it some more, and then, at the end, you

have this beautiful piece. And that’s what life is, and it’s quite violent.”

-Michael Kabotie

Quote source and ©: “Totems to Turquoise”,

Harry N. Abrams Inc., New York, 2004

Michael Kabotie, c. 2004

Photo © by The American Museum of Natural History

The pendant measures a very nicely-sized 2 1/2” in height from the top of the 1/2” long baile and it is 1 1/2” in width at its widest point and just shy of 1/8” in thickness. The pendant weighs an extremely comfortable 18 grams or 5/8 ounce. The pendant is properly signed “Lomawywesa”, Michael Kabotie’s Hopi name, which translates to “Walking in Harmony” in his beautiful characteristic cursive signature on the back and it is also marked on one side with the inscribed three letters “OVD” in a different hand which appear to be either a trading post code or the initials of a former owner.

The pendant is in excellent-plus original condition.

The pendant can be very nicely and easily worn on a simple black silk jewelry cord as we have pictured it here

and we will include a length of this silk cord along with the purchase. It would also look equally beautiful hung on

a nice leather thong or a fine silver chain.

Michael Kabotie’s jewelry work is becoming almost completely impossible to find in the marketplace today due to the increasingly high demand for his rare and beautiful pieces. Everything that becomes for sale is snatched up almost instantly, and, accordingly, prices have risen dramatically over the past ten years since Michael’s untimely death in 2009. We have handled quite a few pieces of Michael’s jewelry over the years, he was a close friend and longtime colleague of ours. In our opinions, this pendant is a really wonderful and distinctive-looking, extremely wearable

and significant piece by this important and talented artist. Anyone would be fortunate to own and wear this piece.

SOLD