B y the time this article appears, summer may have arrived; the combination of winter rain and fierce summer temperatures produced lush growth in our yard, abundant fruit on our trees and plants, and the continual presence of three to four species of butterflies: monarchs, swallowtails and sulfurs, and other less visible and easy to identify ones. Removal of our lawns, planting a wide variety of natives and butterfly attractants decades ago have rewarded us with the beauty of these insects, as well as birds, sometimes up to ten species at a time. Large and easily visible, butterflies’ flight is both graceful and arresting, as they investigate our plants, and especially during their mating flights. While we have wild fennel, we have not had any success with swallowtails laying eggs on them except for one season, but our variety of milkweeds have meant much presence of monarch larvae but a low percentage of visible hatches of butterflies, also reported by other growers of milkweeds. Only one confirmed hatch this year. All this stirs my attraction to insect jewelry, both contemporary and vintage, although since the covid epidemics, our travel has been restricted, so these are mostly drawn from our archives, collections and past articles, although we did cover this year’s Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair and Market in early March. Most of my exposure to such jewelry has been in the Southwest, almost all done by Native Americans, with quite a few notable exceptions, such as the Aldriches, Kris Eberhard, David Freda, Marianne Hunter, Janel Jacobson, Peggy Johnson, Chris Ramsay, Leila Tai, or of ancient or ethnographic origin and those working in glass, like Margaret Zinser Hunt and in polymer (Benesh 1997, 2002-2003; Benesh-Liu 2023, Brown 2023, Little 1999, Liu 1993, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2019/2020, 2024; Wiles 1999). Some of these artists worked in leather, wood or mixed media, but mostly in metal. I have been even inspired to make very simple, bright and light butterfly earrings, of polyesters on wire matrices. With the current world-wide angst about wars in Europe and the Middle East, and our tense domestic political situation, any cause for joy and relief from stress is so welcome. Thus to be able to look out the windows and see laden fruit trees, plants in bloom, butterflies flitting through the yard, often casting shadows as one walks; these sights and experiences very much lightens one’s days. Because the ethnographic and contemporary BUTTERFLIES photographed at the S Santa Fe Reptile and Bug BU S p g p p g Museum in 2018, now temporarily closed. VERY INTRICATE AND UNUSUAL BUTTERFLY JEWELRY WITH ENAMELED WINGS, obverse view, with detailed body, shown at a Yale exhibition of American jewelry dating from 1700-2005, in 2006 (Benesh-Liu 2006). Photograph by Patrick R. Benesh-Liu. jewelry based on these insects are an important part of jewelry history, I want to bring them to the attention of our readers. Their imagery in personal adornment dates to at least Dynastic Egypt, and the emotional attachment to butterflies’ dramatic life history still has impact on human spirituality (Liu 1998, 2019/2020). The Lepidoptera order has over 180,000 species of butterflies and moths, and occur on every continent except Antarctica, thus it is easy to see why so many cultures use imagery of these winged insects. While I have not done a survey, it appears that Native CONTEMPORARY AND VINTAGE INSECT JEWELRY , from left to right, top to bottom : BEADWORK CUFF with butterflies, 6.6 cm wide, unknown artist; AFGHAN SILVER/GILDED BUTTERFLY BROOCH , set with lapis, 6.5 cm high; Chinese articulated, enameled DRAGONFLY PIN , 6.9 cm wingspan; DRAGONFLY EARRINGS , gilded, enameled, articulated, 3.5 cm wingspan, unknown artist; MARGARET REGAN DRAGONFLY PIN of polymer, 6.6 cm high; THAI BEETLE PIN , with metal base, legs, 3.8 cm long; CHRISTINA ANNA EUSTACE (Cochiti-Zuni) RAIN NECKLACE of coral, silver, fourteen karat gold with 2 silver dragonflies, pendant 5.1 cm high; CAST GOLD BEES with pearls, 2.8 cm wingspan, unknown artist; MOSAIC INLAY BUTTERFLY by Valerie & Benny Aldrich of silver, fourteen karat gold, coral, turquoise, sugilite, Mexican fire opal, amethyst, 6.9 cm wingspan, 1994; EUSTACE DRAGONFLY BROOCH of silver, coral, turquoise, sugilite eyes, 6.2 cm wingspan; B EADED BUTTERFLY PIN , unknown artist, 12.0 cm wingspan; two 1940s ZUNI BUTTERFLY PINS of silver, turquoise, mother-of-pearl, spondylus, jet, 4.4-4.8 cm wingspan; CHINESE ENAMEL BUTTERFLY PIN , 4.5 cm wingspan; three JOHN BOWANNIE (Zuni) DRAGONFLY PINS of silver, turquoise, mother-of-pearl, spondylus, jet, sugilite, 6.9-7.1 cm wingspan. Carolyn L.E. Benesh Collection. Photographs by Robert K. Liu/Ornament, unless noted otherwise. 25 ORNAMENT 45.4.2025
Ornament Magazine Volume 45.4 2025: Page 25
