Classic Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Squash Blossom Necklace & Earring Set by Gilbert Martin

The Rainbow Man, also sometimes referred to as the Rainbow Dancer, is a sacred Native American guardian spirit identified with the life-giving summer rains and the colors of the rainbow after the summer’s rain.

The squash blossom necklace is a bold statement piece that represents a storied legacy of jewelry-making by Native Americans of the Southwest.

The squash blossom necklace is a piece of Native American style jewelry that is often recognized as being rooted in Southwest jewelry traditions of the Diné people, adopted by the Zuni and Hopi, and is also traditionally found in works by the Plains Tribes. The Navajo are believed to be the first tribe to begin using the Squash Blossom design around the 1870’s. The necklace's form dates back to the late sixteenth century, when Spain began colonizing the Four Corners region of the United States.

The central inverted crescent, called a naja, was an ornament that the Spanish used on horse bridles which may have its origins in Moorish designs. Fluted blossoms were another silver ornament used by Spanish and Mexican people to embellish their clothing. Possibly derived from European pomegranate flowers, this decorative shape was called a squash blossom by Navajo silversmiths. Silver beads were introduced to North Americans by Europeans, and by the 19th century these beads had long been prized by the Navajo and other Southwestern Native cultures.

When Navajo artisans first learned the craft of silversmithing in the 1850s, these beads became a staple of Navajo jewelry. The first squash blossom necklace was created around 1880, blending the three elements of the naja, fluted blossom and silver beading to create the design into a distinctive and enduring form. Today, the squash blossom necklace is an icon of Native American and Southwestern jewelry and one of the most recognized types of jewelry in the world.

• Dimensions: 25" end to end, beads measure 7/16" across, naja measures 2 1/4" wide by 2 1/8" high, earrings are 2 1/8" long