Diné Navajo Ketoh, Silver Plaque, Arrow-Tipped Wire Scrolls, Leather Cuff

Native American, Navajo (Diné), ca. mid-20th century CE. A ketoh, or bow guard, of oiled brown leather formed into a broad cuff that closes with a rawhide tie. A rectangular silver plaque with rounded corners is mounted on the front, its softly textured field framed by a stamped scalloped border. Split-wire scrolls rise from all four corners like fletching, each ending in an arrow tip, a fitting motif for an archer’s guard. At the center sits a large turquoise nugget webbed with dark matrix, its bezel ringed with twisted wire and a serrated silver collar. Around it runs a band of small turquoise, black stone, and white shell segments. Once a protective guard against the snap of a bowstring, the ketoh had become by this period mainly a piece of ornament and status. The ketoh (from the Navajo term for wrist guard) began as a working tool. It was a band of hide worn on the inside of the bow arm's wrist to take the sting of the released bowstring. When firearms replaced the bow in the later 19th century, the guard stayed in use. Navajo men moved it to the outside of the wrist and fitted it with a decorated metal plate. It became a mark of standing and a part of formal dress, and it is still worn at ceremonies, dances, and public gatherings. Navajo silversmithing took shape in the mid-19th century, when smiths learned forging and stamping from Mexican plateros. The earliest ketoh plates were usually hammered from coin silver or cast in carved sandstone molds, and stamped borders were common on both. By the mid-20th century, smiths working for both Navajo patrons and outside collectors had widened the range of decoration. They used bezel-set turquoise nuggets, appliquéd wire, and bands of small set stones and shell. On this plaque, the arrow-tipped wirework recalls the guard's original job of protecting an archer's wrist. The ring of turquoise, black, and white segments uses a color combination long shared across Southwestern jewelry. It adds a lapidary's technique to the smith's stamping and wirework. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 206068

Estimate:£372.85

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