Green Country Royston Naja by Tyler Brown

Tyler Brown · Royston Turquoise · Sterling Silver · 96g Okay, this is a beast. Tyler Brown took nine huge pieces of Royston turquoise, wrapped them in enough silver to bring the finished naja to 96 grams, and somehow the result still feels remarkably calm. The turquoise is the reason. Instead of bright blue, these stones live in that incredible Royston territory of deep green and blue-green with broad areas of golden-brown matrix. Some stones are almost uninterrupted green; others look like the earth is breaking straight through them. Hence the name: Green Country. WHY THIS PIECE MATTERS Tyler Brown is a Diné (Navajo) silversmith known particularly for large-scale cluster jewelry and serious stone work. He learned silversmithing from his father, the late Diné artist Dean Brown, beginning as a teenager, and Brown reportedly does much of his own stone cutting and shaping—a particularly interesting detail when looking at a composition like this. (Santa Fe Sun Handmade) Here, nine differently shaped Royston cabochons aren’t simply arranged around a traditional naja—they essentially build the naja themselves. The scale matters too. At 96 grams, Green Country is substantially heavier than an ordinary pendant. Brown surrounds those broad stones with twisted wire, silver drops and heavy architectural borders, giving the turquoise enough silver to hold its own without overwhelming it. ARTIFACT REGISTRY Artifact: Green Country Maker: Tyler Brown Origin: Diné (Navajo) Materials: Sterling silver, Royston turquoise Stone Count: 9 cabochons Form: Monumental naja pendant Attachment: Shepherd’s hook Weight: 96 grams Hallmarks: TB / Sterling Collector’s Gallery Value: $5,500 CURATOR’S FIELD OBSERVATION The quarter is doing excellent work here. 😂 But look beyond the sheer size and there is something really sophisticated happening with the stones. Brown graduates the shapes around the crescent rather than repeating a single cabochon. The broad triangular stones create the upper architecture, the ovals anchor the terminals, and the ninth stone drops into the center. That central stone is important: without it, this would read as a very large turquoise naja. With it, the entire object becomes almost shield-like. And despite 96 grams of silver and nine enormous stones, there is still negative space. That’s what keeps the thing from becoming a turquoise dinner plate. ERIC’S NOTES FROM THE FIELD This is my favorite kind of Royston. Not polite little blue stones with a touch of matrix. GREEN. DIRT. CHAOS. Some of these look like somebody cut tiny aerial photographs of Nevada out of the ground and put silver around them. And then Tyler made the entire thing weigh almost 100 grams because apparently subtlety had already left for the day. I approve.