Sleeping Beauty Turquoise and Silver Navajo Corn Maiden Necklace Tufa Cast

Our one-of-a-kind sterling silver Corn Maiden pendant is an exceptional example of traditional Navajo tufa-cast silversmithing. Sculptural and wonderfully tactile, the piece depicts the Corn Maiden, a powerful symbol of sustenance, abundance, renewal, and the enduring relationship between the earth and the people it nourishes.

What makes tufa casting so extraordinary is that before the pendant can exist in silver, the artist must first carve the entire composition by hand into stone. Tufa is a soft, porous volcanic stone traditionally used by Navajo silversmiths to create molds for casting. The artist painstakingly carves the Corn Maiden, the stalk of corn, her facial features and the surrounding ornamentation into the tufa, carefully considering how every recessed and raised detail will ultimately appear in silver.

Molten sterling silver is then poured into the carved stone mold, flowing into its smallest crevices and taking on not only the artist's imagery but also the naturally granular character of the tufa itself. It is this process that gives the pendant its remarkable depth and unmistakable surface—the wonderful texture is quite literally born from stone. The oxidized recesses further emphasize the carving, allowing the Corn Maiden and the beautifully rendered stalk of corn beneath her to emerge dramatically from the silver.

At the center sits an exceptionally beautiful oval of Sleeping Beauty turquoise. Its clear, luminous blue is particularly striking against the richly textured and oxidized sterling silver. Mined in Arizona, Sleeping Beauty turquoise became celebrated for its remarkably pure, intense blue color, often with little or no matrix. With the historic mine no longer producing turquoise, fine stones from this legendary source have become increasingly scarce and particularly sought after by collectors.

The Navajo artisan who created the pendant identifies the figure as the Corn Maiden. Corn has profound significance in the cultures of the Southwest, representing nourishment, abundance, fertility, renewal, and continuity from one generation to the next. Here, the Corn Maiden rises above a graceful stalk of corn, giving the composition a beautiful sense of connection between the earth, its harvest, and the lives it sustains.

There is something especially compelling about the materials themselves: brilliant Arizona turquoise born from the earth, set into sterling silver whose extraordinary surface was formed through an artist's carving in stone. The contrasts—smooth turquoise against rugged silver, brilliant blue against deeply oxidized recesses—give the pendant tremendous presence.

This singular pendant was handcrafted by a Navajo artisan exclusively for Pax Philomena, bringing together rare Sleeping Beauty turquoise, the powerful imagery of the Corn Maiden, and the remarkable tradition of Navajo tufa casting. More than an adornment, it has the presence of a small sculpture—a one-of-a-kind work of wearable art shaped by stone, silver, and the hand of its maker.

Made in New Mexico, USA

1" Width, 2.5" Height

Weight 27 grams

Leather strap included.