***Pendant of a Rosary*** is a 16th-century artifact in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Accession number 17.190.323.

Pendant of a Rosary is a memento mori necklace I made in 2016, that was inspired by a 16th-century artifact in the Metropolitan Museum of Art by the same name.

Dust you shall return

In 2016, during my meditative walks through the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I found my way to—and made friends with—a memento mori object called Pendant of a Rosary that was then located in the Vélez Blanco Patio in the Spanish Courtyard. The original pendant was crafted in silver gilt with rock crystal and inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The pendant was once attached to a string of beads used in the recitation of the rosary, a multipart meditative devotion to the Virgin.

It led to my crafting an entire sterling silver collection called Rosary Charms, drawn from the many elements of this artifact (crown, skull, bones, cross). In addition to the necklace itself, I made a modified version without the cross, titled simply Memento Mori.

Resurrected relic crafted at Donna Distefano Ltd, 2016-2018; *Pendant of a Rosary* in sterling silver and crystal.

Resurrected relic crafted at Donna Distefano Ltd, 2016-2018; *Memento Mori* antiqued sterling silver and crystal.

Poetic Synergy

This couldn’t have been more symbolic to me, as the purchase order for this first series with the Met Store (long after my years there as a goldsmith) came on the ominous date of November 9, 2016. Like the artifact, the pieces—the skull and bones hanging from the imperial crown—serve as a reminder that death awaits even the most powerful and tyrannical. Now, ten years later, it feels even more symbolic, given that the artifact’s origin is Mexican.

In 2018, these pieces were showcased in celebration of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute’s Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination. I also created additional works for the Met Store collection, including a Y-necklace called Crowned Skull and Bones —and years later a version of the necklace for Aerosmith called Deuces are Wild Y-necklace.

Process shots showing the backs of the crosses for *Pendant of a Rosary*

DD X MMA necklace on romance card, 2016-2018

*Aerosmith Deuces Are Wild Y-necklace* rendering and jewel. Donna Distefano Ltd drawings and renderings by Jiyeon Kang (left) and Sarah Fairbank (right).

Mood Board, Donna sketches *Pendant of a Rosary*

Mood Board 2016-2018, *Pendant of a Rosary*

*Pendant of a Rosary* necklace by Donna Distefano Ltd. 2016-2018

The Journey

Pendant of a Rosary took on a new life when my friend, Aerosmith’s legendary guitarist Joe Perry, took a liking to it and carried it around the globe on his neck. Onstage in Prague, and surrounded by hundreds of adoring fans—the necklace hangs front and center, captured in photographs from that moment and many others across his tours from 2016 to the present, including the New York Times in 2019. As an offshoot of Joe’s influence, my local rocker friends began collecting the piece, bringing it onto the stages of New York City.

A special nod to Paul Pesce of NYC’s Dead Jetsetter who takes the best care of his jewelry. He never disappoints at his shows, wearing the shiniest layers—with Pendant of a Rosary dead center.

Judy Ann Nock of NYC’s Saint Divine is a collector of mortal emblems. It is mesmerizing to see how she layers Memento Mori into her skull stack.

Joe Perry in Prague 2018 wearing *Pendant of a Rosary*, photo by Kyler Clark

Joe Perry at Osaka Airport, Japan 2018 wearing *Pendant of a Rosary* and a Skull Rosary Charm

Joe Perry during a Hollywood Vampires tour c. 2016 wearing *Crowned Skull and Bones* Y-necklace

Me, Joe Perry, and *Pendant of a Rosary*. Hollywood Vampires Tour 2018

Joe Perry and *Pendant of a Rosary,* Hollywood Vampires Tour 2018

Joe Perry featured in the New York Times in 2019 wearing layers of Donna Distefano Ltd. jewels including *Pendant of a Rosary*

Paul Pesce of Dead Jetsetter, performing in New York City 2023, wearing *Pendant of a Rosary*

Dead Jetsetter’s Paul Pesce wearing *Pendant of a Rosary* and Dead Jetsetter’s Johnny Andrew wearing an *Aerosmith Deuces Are Wild* Y-necklace at Bowery Electric NYC, 2023

Judy Ann Nock, 2019 wearing our *Crowned Skull and Bones* Y-necklace in the Velez Blanco Patio at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (with the original artifact in the background).

Judy Ann Nock of Saint Divine is bewitching at her 2026 performance in New York City wearing *Memento Mori*

Saint Divine with Judy Ann Nock wearing *Memento Mori,* New York City 2026

A bespoke variation of *Pendant of a Rosary* in 2022

Closeup of the 16th century artifact *Pendant of a Rosary* at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

From artifact to glamour girl; Sabrina Rice modeling our *Aerosmith Deuces Are Wild* Y-necklace for our Aerosmith campaign in 2022. Photo by Sean Younger Thomas,

Queen Bee

On April 24, 2026, my friend Bridget Gramling, aka Queen Bee, texted me a surprising photo that prompted this blog post. We worked together during the 2018 Heavenly Bodies years, and she still ranks at the top of my “smartest people I know” list—especially when it comes to historical landmarks, religious emblems, museum exhibitions, and whatever is happening around town.

Bridget Gramling at the Donna Distefano Ltd. atelier, celebrating *Met Heavenly Bodies*—in suitably grand proportions, 2018.

On the Canvas ?

What gives my necklace-friend, Pendant of a Rosary, even more life than being a 16th-century artifact, a 2016 talisman against tyranny, or a modern-day rock adornment, is that it has lived through a plague—and kept moving.

It appears the piece was purchased at the Met Store by a Brooklyn couple who left New York City in 2020 and relocated upstate. Over the past six years—worn by Whitney Ward, the wife of artist Joe Coleman—it found its way into his work, becoming part of the iconography of his painting.

Most recently, Pendant of a Rosary surfaced within Coleman’s Voyage to Candyland, exhibited at the American Folk Art Museum—where, naturally, Queen Bee was wandering. In April 2026, Bridget spotted a strikingly familiar detail: the necklace rendered into the painting, right down to the maker’s mark on the reverse of the cross.

After 35 years of creating Off the Canvas pieces—pulling forms out of antiquity—a modern hand has placed my work back onto the canvas.

And so the object continues its passage through history, through hands, through worlds—carrying its meaning forward.

Joe Coleman’s *Voyage to Candyland*, exhibited at the American Folk Art Museum, 2026. Photo by Bridget Gramling.

***Pendant of a Rosary*** immortalized (again). Detail of Joe Coleman’s *Voyage to Candyland*, exhibited at the American Folk Art Museum. Photo by Bridget Gramling, 2026

During one of my 2017 wanderings in the museum —right around the time I had a hundred or so crystal skulls at my workbench —waiting to come to life.

Yield To The Art

While revisiting this time period, I came across this photo of me working with Judy Ann Nock and Kathy Ezzo. We were so tired in this picture. I remember wondering—really wondering—why we did all of it, and why I still continue to work for art’s sake, then and now. I think the answer lives somewhere in the Pendant of a Rosary. Something about a longing for immortality. Maybe that’s part of this too—the act of writing it down. So the story stays. So the work has somewhere to go after we’re gone. And then there are moments like this photo of me and Queen Bee—working and celebrating at once. A reminder that it was never all work. That somehow, in the middle of it, we were also living.