Large Vintage Navajo Weaving Blanket Tightly Woven & Unusual, 9ft 3in x 7ft

Description

This is a very fine tightly weaved blanket that is very large, soft, thin and unusual. It weighs 11 Lbs because it is very large: 9' feet x 7 feet.  It is in great condition. I believe that you will never see one of this size, old serape design and the finest quality.  It had to take the Navajo weaver years to complete this beauty. The tightly weaved blanket is a copy of the famous Serape Style Blanket 1840-1860 which is in the Southwest Museum, located in Los Angeles, CA, catalog number, 12, page 34.  The Book: The Navajo Blanket by Mary Hunt Kahlenberg and Anthony Berlant, published by Praeger Publishers, Inc., in association with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has the serape blanket on the cover of their book, see photos.
Provenance:
Greg LaChapelle, Santa Fe; purchased from the Wetherill family, prominent Colorado ranchers; Richard Wetherill, in 1888, was the first outsider to discover the Cliff Palace ruins at Mesa Verde. The family excavated there for some years and later homesteaded land in the area including Pueblo Bonito, the most extant ancient ruins in North America, only relinquishing title in 1907 when President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed it a national monument.
The aesthetics in this weaving are clearly inspired by earlier, classic Navajo serapes and wearing blankets. It could well have been a product of the Crystal Trading Post run by famed Indian trader J.B. Moore, who published catalogs for a mail-order business of Southwest Native art forms. To view a prototype for the design see Moore, J.B., 1987 (reprinted), p. 16, plate II, and p. 11 for a description of this example in his inventory: "A rather wider range of sizes, and more extensive collection of these. Range from 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 feet up to 8 x 11 1/2 feet. Some of the very finest weaves, and will stand any amount of service.
Pattern, a reproduction of an old time one not made within recent years." (written circa 1903).