Vintage Zuni Rainbow Man Cuff Bracelet of Inlay

This is a marvelous example of an old, one-of-a-kind Zuni rainbow man cuff bracelet. The heavy silver bracelet is set with a large, multi-stone mosaic inlay rainbow man figure. 

It's almost impossible not to smile in the presence of this bright, colorful harbinger of goodness. In the book Knifewing and Rainbow Man in Zuni Jewelry by Toshio Sei, "The Rainbow Man is a sacred being associated with precious summer rains and beautiful colors of heavens." Such lovely associations!

According to Sei and other earlier researchers, Alonzo Hustito (1903-1987) is likely the creator of the first Zuni Rainbow Man jewelry design that was offered for sale. Before the emergence of commercially available rainbow man jewelry, the figure is thought to have appeared in religiously significant Zuni jewelry from the 1890s. First came the knifewing and then rainbow man.

Despite the firm attributions you may frequently find on the internet, it is difficult to precisely attribute old Zuni inlay jewelry to specific artists without documentation. These early masterpieces are unsigned. Often, our best approach is to compare certain characteristics of a Zuni piece with other previously identified material. Even so, we're making an informed guess as to the creator. In the words of Martha Struever, who worked with Zuni jewelry for almost half a century, "when I go to Zuni with a particular piece in hand, I often receive different attributions from the Zuni people. C.G. Wallace himself, the most famous Zuni trader ... made some wrong attributions in the well-known auction catalog of his collection." 

Still, it's interesting to study early Zuni inlay jewelry and surmise possible attributions. In fact, if you look in Sei's book you'll notice that this Rainbow Man cuff shares certain characteristics with pieces of rainbow man jewelry that he's attributed, after much research, to Alonzo Hustito. Even the "chain link" silver work is similar. That said, if you turn to the Leo Poblano section of Sei's book, you'll find rainbow man jewelry with inlaid body parts like arms and feet shaped very much like the ones in this bracelet. 

The point is, this is an exceptional old Zuni Rainbow Man bracelet made by one of the early Zuni inlay masters. 

It comes to Turquoise & Tufa from the daughter of a man who was an artist in Yuma, Arizona. He used his artist's "eye" to acquire a small but mighty collection of fine Native American jewelry. This was his only early Zuni inlay piece. 

The cuff is a big boy and measures 6" inside plus 1 1/8" gap. The width is 1 5/8" and it's unsigned. One of Rainbow Man's arms is cracked but stable.

For further reading on Zuni jewelry, here's more from Martha Struever.