The pendant is inlaid on jet with jet, MOP shell, coral, lapis and turquoise. The pendant 3.5 inches long and 1 inch wide. The necklace is made from 5mm jet beads and is 21 inches long Signed on the back of the pendant.
This pendant is a long, tapering shape set on jet and filled with a mosaic of small rectangles and wedges: turquoise, red coral, deep blue lapis, white mother-of-pearl shell, a yellow-green stone and a piece with warm orange-brown matrix, each one framed by thin lines of black jet. A smaller inlaid piece in the same colors rides on the strand above it and holds the pendant on a ring, so the two read as one design. It hangs below the collarbone on the strand of jet beads, which closes at the back with a few small silver beads and a clasp, and the plain black strand keeps the eye on the pendant's color.
Chris Nieto, listed as Christopher on the artist pages, works at every scale, from big showpieces down to small, detailed ones, and this pendant, built up from many small pieces, shows the detailed side. He fits the pieces tight against each other with nothing added to fill the joints, which is why a surface like this one is smooth across all its colors, and he uses only natural stone and shell with no dyes.
