native american blanket? need help identifying

acquired this at an estate sale, no information was given. i cannot find any other blankets online with quite the same style of print, and this blanket is large, has NO fringe, and has what looks like hand selvedge edge (sorry, i dont know if thats the correct term). the two panel aspect of it throws me off too. so far my guess is either navajo or rio grande. sorry for the bad photos, hard to capture the color!! anyone have any idea?

thanks in advance.

 

Hi,
Reminds me of Mexican blankets. The pattern and really bright colors. I hope the experts pop in and prove me wrong.
greg

 

All I can tell you for sure, is that it is not Navajo or Native American. Navajo textiles are identified not by their design patterns, but by the way they are woven. The Navajo use a unique type of upright loom, and a continuous warp, which means that a rug will end up with yarn loops in the corners instead of fringe on the ends. There will be four selvedge edges, because the exact size of the rug will be determined when the loom is warped, and each rug will be individually woven.

Just because no fringe is visible, however, doesn't mean it was woven on a Navajo loom. The fringe can be woven back into the body of the rug, or bound off, or hemmed to hide it. That is the case with this piece.

In addition, Navajo rugs aren't woven in two pieces like this. The technique is used when a standard floor loom is used, which has a definite maximum width. To make a wider rug, two identical pieces are woven, and then stitched together. That isn't necessary on a Navajo loom, since the width can be varied, and is determined when the loom is warped. To make a wider rug, one just needs a pair of longer sticks.

Since the Navajo are the only Native American tribe that weaves rugs (they haven't woven blankets since the 1890s) I'd agree that this looks like it might be Mexican. But, unfortunately, all I can tell you for sure, is what it isn't.

 

I get the Mexican vibe also...

 

Or Guatemalan...