Object Monday: Striped pictorial Navajo weaving

This rug features six broad red bands each holding four striped lizards (possibly skinks), depicted in black with yellow eyes and white stripes running from the head to the tip of the tail.  Pairs of lizards face the central axis of the weaving and the rows are separated by symmetrical bands of black, brown, tan and yellow stripes, woven of undyed and dyed wool.  The outer stripe on one end has a red background with alternating diagonal blocks of  white, brown, black, teal, and tan. This finely woven rug has 8 warp threads and 20 wefts to the inch.  It was donated to the Maxwell in 1999 by Jeanne House, one of a group of early 20^th century weavings she and her father collected.

Interested in learning more about Navajo weavings and supporting contemporary artists?  Come to the Maxwell Navajo Rug Auction on November 20, 2021 at the Prairie Star Restaurant at Santa Ana Pueblo (Bernalillo, NM)

See also: Marian Rodee, 1987, Weaving of the Southwest From the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology. West Chester, PA:  Schiffer Publishing.