19th C. Zuni Wearing Blanket

Item: 874

Origin: Zuni, possibly Navajo
Date: Circa 1870

Media: Wool with natural and synthetic dyes

Dimensions: 78″ x 54″

Description: The darker, variegated background with the varying shades of indigo blue and red bands laying over it gives this blanket a powerful presence.  There are five, complex bands with four relatively the same and then the center portion a more expanded version of these bands. The indigo comes in very intense and pure colors and glows relative to the adjacent grey yarns.  Most of the red banding is a synthetic dye, but one band dye tests (by Dr. David Wenger) as a mix of lac and cochineal. This band can be seen in photo 4 – the corner photo.The attribution for Zuni made comes from the use of the variegated grey background, and also the grouped warps along the sides.  This blanket was restored sometime ago, likely many decades ago.  The selvage is restored, and I suspect that it originally had no side selvage. There are very few lazy lines which makes it either Zuni or Navajo.

Condition:   As stated above, this blanket was restored a long time ago. The most obvious restoration is in the replaced red/orange yarns in the thinner bands.

Price: 25,000