John Leekity Silver Box with Mosaic Knife Wing Man

Artist: John Leekity, Zuni (aka John Gordon Leak) (1900-1970)
Dimensions: 4 3/4″L x 3 1/8”W x 1 3/4”H
Tribe: Navajo/ Zuni
Stone: Multi-stone
Material: Silver

As seen in Elegant Vessels: A century of southwest silver boxes (Pages 22 & 23)

Elegant Vessels Book

This box is mounted with a mosaic Knife Wing Man surrounded by a black background of local jet. Identified by C. G. Wallace in the 1975 Sotheby Park Bernet auction catalog as the work of John Gordon Leak, the attribution have been maintained, even though it is incorrect. The late scholar and investigator of Zuni jewelry, Ernie Bulow, discovered that the artist’s real name was John Leekity (Bulow 2014). Nor was Leekity that sole producer of this style of work, as the variations in manufacture reveal. The silver box is Navajo made, bearing a Concho-inspired design.

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