Unknown Maker, Diné (Navajo)

The background of this wearing blanket was woven with Moqui stripe patterns of indigo-dyed blue and natural brown-black. This style commonly incorporates red triangle, diamond, and cross designs on top of the striped background. The red and white cross repeated here is referred to as the Spider Woman’s cross.

Before Diné gained access to wool in the 1500s, clothing was made from woven plant materials and animal hides. The Diné Bahane’ (Navajo creation story; de-NEH ba-HA-neh) describes how Na’ashjéii Asdzáá (Spider Woman; nah-AHSH-jay-EE ahs-DZAH) brought the gift of wool and weaving to the Diné.

Assigned a somewhat later date than the blanket to the left, this example has a more complex pattern. Like the earlier “Moqui” example, it would be turned sidewise and draped over the shoulders when worn. The blanket was formerly owned by Eliza Radeke, one of the founders of Rhode Island School of Design.

Gift of the Estate of Mrs. Gustav Radeke 31.182

In 1864 the United States Government forced the Navajo people, who continued to resist Mexican and European settlement of the Southwest, to Bosque Redondo in eastern New Mexico. After five years of hardship in this inhospitable land they were resettled in their original homeland onto a permanent reservation. The sedentary life, first at Bosque Redondo and later on the reservation fostered the Navajo weaving tradition while the 4,000 Rio Grande blankets distributed at Bosque Redondo, with their serrated diamond and line motifs, influenced Navajo blankets for decades. The striped background of this rug, also known as moki, is a traditional style used in serapes during the middle of the 19th century. Here it is used in this blanket with the seratted diamonds adopted from the Rio blankets and crosses which became popular in the late 1860s and were used often in the 70s.