{"product_id":"sleeping-beauty-turquoise-corn-maiden-2","title":"Navajo Silver and Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Corn Maiden Necklace","description":"\u003cp\u003eOur Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Tufa Cast Corn Maiden Pendant was created especially for Pax Philomena by a Navajo artisan, whose mastery of silver gives this powerful figure the presence of a small sculpture rather than an ordinary pendant. The Corn Maiden stands tall and serene, her traditional dress marked with deeply dimensional lines, while a vivid Sleeping Beauty turquoise stone rests at her heart. Every detail feels purposeful: the stepped crown, the softly modeled face, the sweeping shawl, and the stylized stalks of corn that rise across her dress.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Corn Maiden is one of the most enduring female figures in the visual language of the Southwest. Corn has sustained Indigenous communities for generations, not simply as nourishment but as a living connection to land, seasons, ceremony, family, and continuity. Corn Maiden imagery appears throughout the region in pottery, jewelry, and art, honoring the feminine source of growth, abundance, and renewal. In Navajo artistry, such figures are often rendered with great individuality, carrying the dignity, strength, and spiritual resonance of the women they represent. Our pendant is a beautiful expression of that tradition: a figure of grace, generosity, and the enduring life of the land.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat makes this piece especially extraordinary is the tufa-cast silverwork. Tufa casting is one of the most labor-intensive and evocative methods in Navajo silversmithing. The artisan begins by carving the design by hand into soft, porous volcanic tufa stone, working in reverse so that every line, fold, and raised detail will emerge in silver. Molten sterling silver is then poured into the hand-carved mold. Once the silver has cooled, the pendant is released, refined, and finished by hand. The grain of the tufa leaves its own distinctive, softly rugged texture in the metal—visible across the Corn Maiden’s dress and face—and no two castings can ever carry precisely the same surface or character.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the beauty of true tufa casting: the hand of the artist remains present in every part of the piece. The pendant has a depth and sculptural weight that cannot be achieved through machine-made jewelry. Its deliberately textured silver, polished raised details, and dimensional corn motifs create a wonderful contrast with the luminous turquoise at its center.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe stone is equally special. Sleeping Beauty turquoise comes from the renowned mine near Globe, Arizona, celebrated for producing some of the clearest and most recognizable American turquoise ever found. Its pure, robin’s-egg blue has been treasured by collectors and Native American jewelry lovers for decades. The Sleeping Beauty mine ceased turquoise production in 2012, making genuine material from this legendary source increasingly finite and sought after. The beautifully saturated stone in our pendant brings a flash of blue sky to the silver and deepens the symbolism of the Corn Maiden as a figure of life, rain, growth, and promise.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJean Marie commissioned this pendant especially for Pax Philomena because it brings together everything she loves in Native American jewelry: exceptional handmade workmanship, a meaningful figure rooted in the Southwest, rare turquoise, and a story that reaches far beyond adornment. It is a piece to wear close to the heart, to admire for its artistry, and to keep as an heirloom long after the moment it first captured your attention.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSupport artisans. Wear art. Be unique.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMade in New Mexico, USA\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1\" wide, 3\" high.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLeather Necklace included\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PAX PHILOMENA","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47827939590463,"sku":"CORNMAIDEN2-OS","price":695.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2529\/6354\/files\/PaxPhilomena_6_4197bb6d-bdac-4802-90e1-f87516580cd9.png?v=1791832515","url":"https:\/\/paxphilomena.com\/products\/sleeping-beauty-turquoise-corn-maiden-2","provider":"PAX PHILOMENA","version":"1.0","type":"link"}