T Monahan
Supportive Member
The Chief Blanket is one of the finest achievements in Navajo weaving... Basically simple in design, its beauty depended on its careful placement and balance of design elements and its glowing color. Like all garments the Indians made for themselves, it was designed to be worn, to drape regally, and to move gracefully.
Historically, the term Chief Blanket is a misnomer, for the blanket was never intended to designate rank of its wearer; nor was it worn only by men... The Chief Blanket, beautifully selected of woven materials, was expensive, and so became a mark of the rich and successful. From early times, it was widely worn by the Southwestern Tribes and was traded extensively, especially to the buffalo-hunting tribesmen of the Plains and throughout the intermountain West, where it often took the place of the painted, quilled, and beaded buffalo robes... The First Phase Chief Blanket was traded very widely, being especially favored by the Ute Indians and the Sioux, among whom many specimens have been collected.
Excerpt taken from Blanket Weaving in the Southwest by Joe Ben Wheat. The University of Arizona Press 2003. (pp. 136-137)
Historically, the term Chief Blanket is a misnomer, for the blanket was never intended to designate rank of its wearer; nor was it worn only by men... The Chief Blanket, beautifully selected of woven materials, was expensive, and so became a mark of the rich and successful. From early times, it was widely worn by the Southwestern Tribes and was traded extensively, especially to the buffalo-hunting tribesmen of the Plains and throughout the intermountain West, where it often took the place of the painted, quilled, and beaded buffalo robes... The First Phase Chief Blanket was traded very widely, being especially favored by the Ute Indians and the Sioux, among whom many specimens have been collected.
Excerpt taken from Blanket Weaving in the Southwest by Joe Ben Wheat. The University of Arizona Press 2003. (pp. 136-137)
