Blanket (Serape or shawl)

Description

This Native American blanket, or serape, was made by a Navajo (Diné) weaver in the American Southwest. It features terraced diamonds on a background of narrow stripes which flank a central band of wider zigzag stripes in a horizontal pattern. Navajo blankets of this style were made for a brief period in the late 19th century and created specifically for trade. They were sometimes called “eye dazzlers” due to their vivid colors and bold designs, or “Germantowns” after the Philadelphia neighborhood which supplied the synthetically-dyed yarn used in their creation. This blanket includes red, brown, white, and yellow yarn produced in Germantown along with Navajo handspun wool in indigo and blue-green.