Rug
ClassificationsTextiles-floor coverings-rugs and mats
Culture
Navajo
Datec. 1910
Made AtUnited States
MediumWool
Dimensions52 × 83 in. (132.1 × 210.8 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mr. Dennis J. Aigner
Object number2015.5.2
DescriptionThe creation of Navajo rugs shifted to a commercial enterprise in the late 19th century. By 1980, two-thirds of the blankets woven by the Navajo were produced for nontribal use. Because demand for these rugs increased, traders encouraged weavers to employ different stylistic elements like the border which was used to frame central designs. This rug comes from the Crystal Trading Post. Early Crystal rugs such as this are especially known for Victorian influence as the oriental designs of this era were quite popular. Many of these crystal-style rugs sold in the early 1900s. Rugs of this style are typically bordered with crosses, diamonds, the terrace, hook and fork pattern, swastikas, arrows and the meandering line seen around this rug’s outer edge. They are also characterized by the use of white, black and grey wool only.Despite its modern connotations, the swastika motif has been an auspicious symbol for at least thousands of years. For the Navajo, it was a figurative representation of the ‘whirling logs,’ a commonly depicted sand painting from the Night Chant and together with an axis with two legs—where the swastika instead has four—forms a visual pun of the Navajo mantra, “successfully attaining a ripe old age by daily spiritual renewal according to the universal beauty of the cosmos.” Its use in Navajo textiles was probably more inspired by the introduction of the Asiatic motif by Western traders.
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