An Engraved Southern Plains Brooch with Suspended Waterbird and Feather Ornaments. Attributed to Homer Lumpmouth, Arapaho.

Ex. Lawrence Jones III Collection. 

A circular brooch with a gently domed face, engraved with concentric scalloped borders, small cross-shaped accents, and a central four-petaled rosette. The comparatively open arrangement allows broad areas of reflective metal to remain visible between the engraved passages. A horizontal pin fitting is attached to the reverse.

Three articulated ornaments descend from the lower edge. Two elongated feathers, carefully engraved with central shafts and successive barbs, flank a stylized waterbird with an extended neck, angular wings, and a long, flaring tail. Small incised details articulate the bird’s head and body, while the separate suspension of each pendant introduces movement beneath the circular upper element.

The waterbird places the brooch within the artistic traditions associated with the Native American Church, in which the bird is understood as a bearer of prayers. Here, its elongated silhouette forms the central axis of a composition that balances the breadth of the disk against the narrow, descending pendants.

The attribution to Homer Lumpmouth connects the piece with the Arapaho metalworking community of western Oklahoma. Smithsonian collection records document German silver jewelry made by Lumpmouth in Clinton during the early 1960s and collected by Michael Kincaid Davis in 1966.