Featured 19th C Navajo Blanket?

Hi again.

I had great luck this last weekend and I think this is the best of it.

I think this is a 'Third Phase' Navajo Chiefs' blanket. That would date it to the last third of the 19th century.

Mine has a less elaborate central horizontal section than some I've seen online and I don't know what to make of that. Does that suggest it's earlier, later, or just a stylistic quirk?

Are my identification and approx. date right?

Condition: so there's major condition issues. That's my middle name. I know those affect value, etc. I have no plans to sell this; rather, I'm interested in knowing its history.

I also know professional treatment is always a possibility, for both cleaning and repair, but short of that, can anyone make a recommendation for a light, gentle at-home cleaning?

Measures 65" wide at top in pic, 61" at middle, (pic #1 makes the bottom look slightly wider than it is), 59" tall.

Thank you all, as always!

 

nice find.......... u need a rug expert.....
it's either the earliest find.......or the ugliest find..!!

someone ran out of room...or messed to top design..
I can't find any with just brown & cream alternating bars...
or any with that rounded A, instead of a triangle.....

I'm confused , because the weaving looks legit..

@Taupou .....?

 

I think your identification of it as third phase is correct.

The yarns appear to be fairly consistent in size. If handspun by a Navajo weaver, they should all be single ply. If the yarn feels soft and silky it would be consistent with the traditional churro wool that would have been used before the 1930s.

There may be more dating clues in the colors.


The white/cream color is a natural wool color. The dark brown can also be natural, but may have been darkened with a dye - "A deep brown color was much admired, and some brown wool may have been darkened with a dye made from a combination of three-leaved sumac (Rhus trilobata), pitch of the pinyon (Pinus edulis), and yellow ochre." [Anthony Berlant & Mary Hunt Kahlenberg: Walk in Beauty: The Navajo and Their Blankets]. The gray/beige color is probably a mixture of white and brown wool spun together.

There appears to be a blue dye, which would probably be indigo, available at least by the 1850s.

The orange/red dye may be the most informative. Reds in the earlier blankets were obtained by unravelling the yarns from red flannel trade cloth. Spanish/Mexican flannel ("bayeta") was dyed with cochineal, which was a redder color than American flannels which were dyed with synthetic dyes "and therefore distinguishable from bayeta by the orange-red color produced by these dyes" (ibid.). The synthetic red dyes became available (both in American flannel and as separate dye) during the 1870s. These early synthetic dyes were apt to bleed if wet, and easily faded.

Based on what I can see in your photos, the orange/red yarns in your blanket look similar in size and texture to the natural color yarns. But the color is quite inconsistent. I suspect these yarns may be either American flannel that was unraveled, carded and respun, or yarn dyed by a Navajo weaver using a synthetic dye. Either way, it would indicate a possible date of mid-1870s or later.

 

The first thing I feel the need to mention, is definitely don't attempt any "light, gentle at-home cleaning"!

Since you don't intend to sell it, any attempt to do anything to it, will only create further damage, which is usually irreparable. It requires an expert in cleaning and repairing Navajo rugs to determine what needs to be done.

I would suspect that the major "issues" with this are due to age, wear, and display methods used by former owners, which could have caused it to stretch the yarn, causing the blanket to not be square, and for the bottom triangle to be curved slightly. The damage on the edges are further evidence of that. The bleeding of the red found in several areas is due to contact with dampness, maybe an earlier attempt to "clean" areas.

As to the brown and cream alternating bars, Bonhams Boston auction on January 15, 2011 featured one, as did Second Phase Chiefs blankets, so I would suspect you are correct in assuming this is an early example of a Third Phase, before weavers began experimenting with adding more red.

 

@Potteryplease ......... just seeing the 2 color alternating bars....I would have snapped it up in a NY minute....!!
The damage is light, and can be repaired ...if desired.

Quite the find !!!
Good eye......& better quick thinking !

@Taupou ...I must have missed that Bonhams one.....
but like you say....one !

 

I agree with Komo, it's a great find!

 

Thank you guys for your expertise, research, explanations and time!! As always.

I will not 'clean' it in any way. Promise!

I am excited about this find, and look forward to learning more about it. Not to be overly dramatic, but I feel its significance.

I saw it sitting on a table at an 'indoor garage sale' at a local fair grounds. I asked the seller 'What's the story with this?' She said something like, Well it's damaged. She told me to make her an offer, I did, she accepted, and I walked away with it.

I will also add that after that, as I continued to wander around the two exhibit halls at the fairgrounds, several other shoppers saw it in my arms and said things like, 'Ooo- What did you find?' So I feel lucky to have nabbed it before any of them did.

 

timing ......can be ......everything...!!

I'm sure this will be featured on Find of the Year thread !!!

Now you need those AR tickets !!!

 

and as always........still gems to be found........if one is out there ...looking !!!

I'm envious !!
not jealous .......... but envious !!!

 

Thank you!

 

S-C-O-R-E! I don't know much about NA weaving, but the formerly red dye and no fringe sure sent my antennae up.

 

Wow!
A super fabulous find!!!

 

Thank you guys!!

 

I know u want to be careful , but I lightly vacuum mine , respecting the tears and breaks , by using a soft attachment brush.... I'll also hang it outdoors and beat it gently with a rug beater or similar tool.

I use mine as a foot rug beside my bed...so it needs cleaning occasionally..

 

Attractive! Bright and interesting. I can also see why you need to be careful. It's weird: these old weavings are both incredibly durable--obviously, based on age--but also sometimes in need of delicate handling.

I guess people can be like that too.

 

One thought about the end that appears to be stretched out of shape - it may have been caused by the way these blankets were typically worn, pulled up and around the shoulders -

 

That seems quite possible.

And cool old pictures!

 

Wow congrats on the amazing find!

 

Thanks!! It's exciting!

 

Wow…