Navajo Blanket With Spanish Colonial Slave Characteristics

Navajo, possibly woven in a Spanish household, New Mexico

1890 | Wool | Item 2498

This blanket has a classic period layout with diamond centers and outer diamonds going towards the ends. The hand spun wool sets the background with red. The diamonds and undulating bands are done in orange, purple, tan, and carded gray. The nine crosses are white hand spun yarns with orange on each upper and lower end. It is the specific use of these colors that associates the blanket with a Spanish Colonial, New Mexican household. The use of these colors; red, orange, purple and tan is a typical color pallet used in the Spanish household and not typically found coming out of a Navajo household, unless being woven for a Spanish client. It was common for Spanish households to have Navajos as workers, sometimes as slaves and sometimes paid. A Navajo weaver would be told what sort of blanket was desired, and it is here that the Spanish most commonly asserts their taste. The colors are equal on both sides.