Rug
ClassificationsTextiles-floor coverings-rugs and mats
Culture
Navajo
Datec. 1900
Made AtUnited States, North America
MediumWool and pigment
Dimensions65 1/2 × 42 1/2 in. (166.4 × 108 cm)
Credit LineGift of Dennis Aigner
Object number2018.8.1
DescriptionThe characteristic red Germantown wool utilized in this Navajo rug indicates that it was made between 1890-1910. It was during these years that a drought severely damaged the quality of Navajo wool and required Navajo dealers—and the traders who served as middlemen for them—to purchase wool from Germantown, Pennsylvania. The most popular of these wools was the brilliant red we see here, the color of which has held up remarkably well. The fine quality of the yarn, though, meant that it was not ideal for rugs which would be trodden on, thus leading to the period’s end in 1910 once the quality of Navajo wool improved once more. The origin of this rug has yet to be identified, but some of the motifs may serve as clues. The peculiar border of the rug is called the ‘concho’ design after the concho belts of the Navajo. Similar examples of its use have been attributed to J.B. Moore, who ran the Crystal Trading Post. We see two other important motifs used in Navajo weavings: the swastika and the waterbug.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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