Hummingbird Earrings Set with Obsidian Cabachons

Hummingbird earrings set with obsidian cabochons, the native black stone giving the small birds their dark, light-catching bodies. The hummingbird belongs to the figural naturalism Spratling carried into his third design period, the form abstracted into clean silver and stone rather than rendered in detail.

Obsidian was one of the Mexican materials Spratling drew on from his earliest years, and its use here in a pair of bird earrings is typical of the way he set native stone across his whole range. The hummingbird, or chupamirto, also carried pre-Columbian resonance, part of the indigenous vocabulary he translated into wearable form.

Made by Spratling's workshop in the 1951-1967 period, the earrings show that figural strain still active late in his career. With no recorded reference, their appeal rests on the pairing of motif and material.