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Navajo Sandpainting Rug

Offered by: Marcy Burns American Indian Arts LLC

Description
The Navajo believe that people should be in balance with the natural world around them. Illness and other woes are an indication of a disruption in this harmony. To restore it, the traditional Navajo family hires a medicine man to perform a ceremony or series of ceremonies which often transpire over many days. At the height of thee ceremonies, the medicine man draw a very specific design in colored sand. We refer to these as "sandpaintings". Afterward, the sands are disposed of ritually and the details of the designs remain confidential. Otherwise, the Navajo believe that harm will come to those who reveal these designs.

Trade in Navajo textiles to Anglos blossomed when the railroads arrived in the Southwest in the 1880s. By the 1920s, it was well established. Collectors wanted ceremonial images represented in Navajo textiles but, of course, they were forbidden. There were a few weavers who took the risk, however, altering a few details but basally representing the general form of the designs. These textiles were woven in secrecy and the traders sold them discreetly.

There is another, very similar version of this sand painting rug in the Salisbury House in Des Moines, Iowa. Documentation of that rug shows that Carl Weeks, the owner of Salisbury House, commissioned the sand painting from Ed Davies in Two Gray Hills in 1923. Davies delivered it to Weeks in 1924.

These two sand painting rugs are undoubtably by the same weaver or family of weavers. They vary slightly in detail, as would be expected.

Provenance is available. Condition is excellent.

More Information

Origin:	United States
Period:	1920-1949
Materials:	Handspun wool, natural and synthetic dyes.
Condition:	Excellent.
Creation Date:	Circa 1925-1926
Styles / Movements:	American Indian
Dealer Reference #:	R0459
Incollect Reference #:	108751

Dimensions

W.	53 in;	H.	46 in;
W.	134.62 cm;	H.	116.84 cm;

Message from Seller:

For over thirty years, Marcy Burns American Indian Arts LLC has been nationally recognized as a premier dealer in antique American Indian basketry, textiles, pottery and jewelry, including Native American and Classic Designer jewelry from Taxco, Mexico.

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