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Diné (Navajo) Native North American

Man's wearing blanket (Chief blanket, phase II), 1855-1863

Description

Maker

  • Unknown

Culture

Diné (Navajo)

Title

Man's wearing blanket (Chief blanket, phase II)

Year

1855-1863

Medium

Wool and cotton tapestry weave

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • cotton,
  • wool

Techniques

  • tapestry weave

Dimensions

Length: 179.1 cm (70 1/2 inches)

Type

  • Textiles

Credit

Gift of Mrs. Murray S. Danforth

Object Number

45.083

Projects & Publications

Publications

Selected Works

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Blankets and Baskets

July 2 - October 10, 2004

By the mid-19th century, the date of the earliest blanket in the Museum’s collection, Navajo artists had come to dominate the weaving trade among tribes of the American West. Woven by Navajo women, “chief” blankets were widely traded as garments for men of status (not necessarily chiefs) in many Western and Plains Indian tribes. Worn as a shoulder blanket, the pattern runs vertically down the center back and front, where it is held together by the wearer. The Navajo unraveled red yarns from commercially woven trade blankets and respun them to make threads for weaving during this period, before their internment from 1864 to 1868 at Bosque Redondo, near Fort Sumner, New Mexico, some 200 miles from their ancestral lands.
Gift of Mrs. Murray S. Danforth 45.083

Form, Pattern, and Function

December 4, 1992 - January 24, 1993

Blankets became a valuable commodity for barter at the trading posts established by the European Americans and as the blanket's fame spread throughout the US, traders began to introduce new designs, yarns, and types of textiles to the Indians to please this new market. On this rug, an example of a style favored by the trader Lorenzo Hubbel in the 1890s, crosses are placed against a striped blue and white background. It was woven with Germantown yarns introduced by the traders so that stronger blankets more appropriate as floor covering could be made.

Raid the Icebox 1 with Andy Warhol

April 23 - June 30, 1970

Raid the Icebox 1 with Andy Warhol

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Man's wearing blanket (Chief blanket, phase II) with the accession number of 45.083. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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