Navajo Rug from Trading Post at Red Mesa [SOLD]

West and slightly north of Teec Nos Pos, very close to the Utah border, are three other posts—Red Mesa, Sweetwater, and Mexican Water—where weavers have produced some outstanding rugs.  Generally, each element of design is outlined in the tradition seen at Teec Nos Pos but the designs are simpler and the colors more pleasing.  Traditionally, all weavers used only handspun native wool.

This rug has bands comprised of diamonds running parallel to each other. The basic field of the rug is all natural carded brown wool and there are three bands of those as well as the two bands on the edges.  On the interior of the rug are bands of burnt orange and dark blue. Each diamond is outlined in red.  The rug is borderless in the style of early Navajo blankets and the bands are of the same style so that they wrapped around the body of the wearer and met in the front in an overlap.  This one is a rug, however, not a blanket.

Condition: has just been professionally washed and repaired and is ready for use.

Recommended Reading: Navajo Rugs – past, present & future by Gilbert S. Maxwell

Provenance: from the estate of Harold and Hilda Street passed down through the family.