Fourth-Phase Chief Blanket Style Rug
Unknown Artist
c. 1900
Medium
tapestry weave: wool (handspun, Germantown, and bayeta)
Dimensions
178.4 × 151.1 cm
Classification
Textile
Department
Textiles
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Amelia Elizabeth White
Accession Number
1937.903
About this artwork
This rug is modeled on a coveted Diné (Navajo) garment type—a waterproof blanket worn around the shoulders. By the late 1700s, other Natives traded avidly for such blankets, which are classified according to design phases and known as “chief’s blankets,” a misnomer since the Diné have no chiefs. In the late 1800s, old Indigenous trade outlets collapsed, especially after the disastrous imprisonment of the Diné at Bosque Redondo in the 1860s. Responding to the dramatically transformed landscape in...