pre hispanic art

Francisco Sánchez crafts a delightful necklace in the style of pre-Hispanic art. Present in Mexico's music and legend, the paloma, or dove comes to life in this chic silver pendant.

.925 Sterling silver

Taking the form of a feathered serpent, Quetzalcoatl is an ancient pre-Hispanic deity, paid homage in this stunning men's pendant necklace from Mexico. Angel Ortiz crafts the pendant of precious sterling silver from Taxco in the Aztec art style. It centers black rubber cord that closes with a sterling clasp.

Named with the Nahuatl word for hummingbird, this necklace by Rosa Rojo reveals the importance of this little creature to Aztec and other indigenous cultures. The design is based on depictions from Mexico's pre-Hispanic codices, reinterpreted in gleaming sterling silver.

An ancient Maya legend tells how the gods gave a specific mission to each being they created. But they realized none had been chosen to carry thoughts and desires from one place to another," says Rosa Padillas of Rosa Roja. "So they carved a small piece of jade into a a slender arrowhead, and it became a beautiful hummingbird with iridescent feathers — the x ts'unu'um. Its mission was to carry good thoughts to all human beings, even those who had died.

"Today, if a hummingbird appears in front of you, it is delivering a message of love from someone who is thinking of you. And if we wear the image of a hummingbird, we carry good thoughts and desires to others.

"The hummingbird legend says that we can fly to the six cardinal points of the universe, therefore the hummingbird is the ideal link to transmit thoughts of love, of respect, tolerance and peace to all creatures on the planet."

The talented Mexican artisan reinterprets the legend as a necklace of dramatic beauty. She creates a hummingbird pendant in the pre-Hispanic style, and adds an agate geode representing the hummingbird's nest. It poses on a strand of gray cultured pearls.