Repousse — Silver Pushed from Behind

Repousse — Silver Pushed from Behind

There is a category of Navajo silverwork that stops people who understand jewelry cold. Not because of the stone — though the stone is often exceptional — but because of what the silver itself is doing. The surface rises. Dome shapes and radiating lines emerge from the band in three-dimensional relief that seems impossible until you understand the technique behind it. That technique is repousse, and in the hands of a master Navajo silversmith it produces some of the most visually powerful Western jewelry in existence.

What Repousse Is

Repousse (from the French repousser, meaning to push back) is a metalworking technique in which sheet metal is worked from the reverse side using hammers and punches to create raised relief on the front face. The metal is not cut, engraved, or cast — it is deformed plastically through controlled hammering, stretched and pushed into three-dimensional forms that are integral to the metal sheet itself. No solder, no additional metal, no fabrication: just the original sheet, shaped by hand into relief.

The companion technique, chasing, works the front face of the metal to refine and define the forms created by repousse from behind. Most Navajo silverwork described as repousse involves both techniques: repousse to raise the forms, chasing to sharpen the details. Together they allow a silversmith to create dimensional designs — domes, ridges, radiating lines, figural elements — with a sculptural presence that no other silversmithing method achieves in the same way.

The Process

Repousse requires the metal to be in a workable state throughout the process — neither too hard to deform nor so soft that it tears. Navajo silversmiths typically work sterling silver that has been annealed (softened by heating) before each stage of work. The metal is placed on a pitch block — a resilient, slightly yielding surface made from pine pitch mixed with a filler — that supports the metal while allowing it to move under hammer blows. Tools called punches and tracers, each with a different tip profile, are used to push and move the metal in controlled directions.

The process moves back and forth between front and back faces: repousse from behind to raise forms, chasing from the front to define them, then back to the pitch block to push further. Highly detailed work may require a dozen or more separate stages of annealing, pitching, working, and releasing. This is not fast work. A heavily repousséd cuff band of the caliber produced by artists like Darryl Becenti or Andy Cadman may represent many hours of this back-and-forth process in the repousse work alone, before any stone setting or finishing begins.

Repousse in the Navajo Tradition

Repousse has been part of Navajo silversmithing since the craft developed in the mid-nineteenth century, when Navajo smiths learned metalworking from Mexican plateros and quickly developed their own distinctive vocabulary. The technique was used initially for concho belts and bridle ornaments — large-format silver objects where the dimensional quality of repousse read effectively at a distance. Over generations it migrated into cuff bracelets, pendants, and rings, where it continues to be practiced today by the most skilled and committed artists.

What distinguishes Navajo repousse from the technique as practiced in other traditions is its integration with stampwork. Most master Navajo silversmiths who work in repousse use it in combination with hand stamping — the repousse providing dimensional forms, the stampwork providing surface pattern within and around those forms. The combination of raised three-dimensional elements and deeply impressed stamped fields creates a surface complexity that rewards extremely close examination.

How to Recognize Quality Repousse Work

  • Clarity of form — Well-executed repousse produces forms with clean, defined edges and smooth, flowing surfaces. Poorly executed work shows irregular edges, faceted surfaces from too-heavy blows, or forms that lack internal consistency.
  • Even wall thickness — The stretched areas of repousse work should not be noticeably thinner than the surrounding metal. Excessive thinning indicates the metal was pushed too far too quickly without adequate annealing.
  • Integration with the overall design — The finest repousse work places its dimensional elements in a logical relationship to the rest of the piece — the stampwork fields, the stone setting, the band profile. Repousse added as an afterthought reads differently from repousse that was planned as part of the original conception.
  • Scale and proportion — Repousse elements that are correctly scaled to the band width and stone size create visual balance. Oversized or crowded repousse disrupts proportion.

Repousse at Turquoise Mustang

Our collection includes some of the finest repousse work produced by living Navajo silversmiths.

Read more about the artists who practice repousse at the highest level: Darryl Becenti, Andy Cadman, and Delbert Gordon. Browse the full Native American Collection.