Transitional Pictorial Navajo Weaving

Transitional Pictorial Navajo Rug for sale.  Quite Rare.  Possibly woven as a double saddle blanket.

Hand carded, hand spun, hand dyed native wool with natural wool colors and aniline dyes.  The powerful Navajo symbols of whirling logs and the WW1 plane adds to the specialness of this weaving.  The Whirling Log motif goes back thousands of years in human culture.  One of the oldest symbols made by humans, dates back some 6,000 years to rock and cave paintings. Scholars generally agree it originated in India.

In the Navajo culture the Whirling Log represents well being, good luck and protection.  It comes from tale of the Whirling Log.

Sadly the Navajo had to make a difficult choice.  In 1940, in response to Hitler’s regime, the Navajo, Papago, Apache and Hopi people signed a whirling log proclamation. It read, “Because the above ornament, which has been a symbol of friendship among our forefathers for many centuries, has been desecrated recently by another nation of peoples, therefore it is resolved that henceforth from this date on and forever more our tribes renounce the use of the emblem commonly known today as the swastika . . . on our blankets, baskets, art objects, sand paintings and clothing.”

Call for pricing.