SENSATIONAL HISTORIC NAVAJO RUG, SPIDER WOMAN CROSSES, ”S” BORDER, C1910,
Item History & Price
SENSATIONAL HISTORIC NAVAJO RUG, SPIDER WOMAN CROSSES, ”S” BORDER, C1910, EXCELLENT!
Beautiful antique Navajo rug in every way. This rug contains symbolism of the Spider Woman Crosses (see below) including the Storm Pattern lightning patterns at the 4 corners. Also, as Navajo weavers are known to do during this early Rug Period, she changed the design sequence by flipping one of the “S” or “5” to a “2” on one side to make it slightly asymmetrica...l. This fine weaving even has a prominent extra wide Spirit Line in one corner, possibly to accentuate the overall spiritual nature of this particular rug. A Navajo masterpiece.
Measures approximately 56” x 72”. Expertly woven. Fresh to the marketplace.
Everything guaranteed as stated. Shipping includes full insurance. Please check out my many other quality auctions. Thank you!
SPIDER WOMAN CROSSES:
In Navajo culture, the Spider Woman Cross speaks of deity, duality, benevolence and creation.
"Spider Woman instructed the Navajo women how to weave on a loom which Spider Man told them how to make. The crosspoles were made of sky and earth cords, the warp sticks of sun rays, the healds of rock crystal and sheet lightning. The batten was a sun halo, white shell made the comb. There were four spindles: one a stick of zigzag lightning with a whorl of cannel coal; one a stick of flash lightning with a whorl of turquoise; a third had a stick of sheet lightning with a whorl of abalone; a rain streamer formed the stick of the fourth, and its whorl was white shell." (Navajo Legend)
IN an effort to assist Buyers with understanding the way I describe the condition of Navajo weavings that I’m selling on ebay, I spoke with Navajo textile author and expert Tyrone Campbell about his ‘Classification Categories for Condition’ that he first published in his NEWSLETTER in 1981.
After discussing with him that we may have to tweak it a bit because its been 40 years since it was originally comprised and has gotten nearly impossible to find weavings in excellent, let alone mint condition these days, I concluded, what the hell, why mess with a good thing. It’s a standard worth sticking to! So here it is as originally written (and with permission to reprint from Tyrone, July 2020).
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“CLASSIFICATION CATEGORIES FOR DETERMINING PHYSICAL CONDITION
FRAGMENT: Any portion of an entire weaving.
DETERIORATED: Heavily damaged, warps exposed, selvage missing, large holes, serious fading or running, corners or areas missing.
AVERAGE: Shows floor wear or small holes, some selvage damage, very minor bleeding, etc.
GOOD: Above average classification may still show use, but not broken warps. In some cases a very small hole or two or a minor selvage break or two is acceptable.
EXCELLENT: No holes, no bleeding or fading, no exposed warps or serious selvage damage.
MINT: This classification means that the textile is in pristine condition.
NOTE: In the case of rare weavings we will up-grade the condition classification from Average to Good or from Good to Excellent, but in no case to Mint or from Deteriorated to Average condition.”
From THE TYRONE D. CAMPBELL NEWSLETTER, Published at Albuquerque, N.M., 1981.++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Everything guaranteed as stated. Shipping includes full insurance. Please check out my many other quality auctions. Thank you!
Beautiful antique Navajo rug in every way. This rug contains symbolism of the Spider Woman Crosses (see below) including the Storm Pattern lightning patterns at the 4 corners. Also, as Navajo weavers are known to do during this early Rug Period, she changed the design sequence by flipping one of the “S” or “5” to a “2” on one side to make it slightly asymmetrica...l. This fine weaving even has a prominent extra wide Spirit Line in one corner, possibly to accentuate the overall spiritual nature of this particular rug. A Navajo masterpiece.
Measures approximately 56” x 72”. Expertly woven. Fresh to the marketplace.
Everything guaranteed as stated. Shipping includes full insurance. Please check out my many other quality auctions. Thank you!
SPIDER WOMAN CROSSES:
In Navajo culture, the Spider Woman Cross speaks of deity, duality, benevolence and creation.
"Spider Woman instructed the Navajo women how to weave on a loom which Spider Man told them how to make. The crosspoles were made of sky and earth cords, the warp sticks of sun rays, the healds of rock crystal and sheet lightning. The batten was a sun halo, white shell made the comb. There were four spindles: one a stick of zigzag lightning with a whorl of cannel coal; one a stick of flash lightning with a whorl of turquoise; a third had a stick of sheet lightning with a whorl of abalone; a rain streamer formed the stick of the fourth, and its whorl was white shell." (Navajo Legend)
IN an effort to assist Buyers with understanding the way I describe the condition of Navajo weavings that I’m selling on ebay, I spoke with Navajo textile author and expert Tyrone Campbell about his ‘Classification Categories for Condition’ that he first published in his NEWSLETTER in 1981.
After discussing with him that we may have to tweak it a bit because its been 40 years since it was originally comprised and has gotten nearly impossible to find weavings in excellent, let alone mint condition these days, I concluded, what the hell, why mess with a good thing. It’s a standard worth sticking to! So here it is as originally written (and with permission to reprint from Tyrone, July 2020).
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“CLASSIFICATION CATEGORIES FOR DETERMINING PHYSICAL CONDITION
FRAGMENT: Any portion of an entire weaving.
DETERIORATED: Heavily damaged, warps exposed, selvage missing, large holes, serious fading or running, corners or areas missing.
AVERAGE: Shows floor wear or small holes, some selvage damage, very minor bleeding, etc.
GOOD: Above average classification may still show use, but not broken warps. In some cases a very small hole or two or a minor selvage break or two is acceptable.
EXCELLENT: No holes, no bleeding or fading, no exposed warps or serious selvage damage.
MINT: This classification means that the textile is in pristine condition.
NOTE: In the case of rare weavings we will up-grade the condition classification from Average to Good or from Good to Excellent, but in no case to Mint or from Deteriorated to Average condition.”
From THE TYRONE D. CAMPBELL NEWSLETTER, Published at Albuquerque, N.M., 1981.++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Everything guaranteed as stated. Shipping includes full insurance. Please check out my many other quality auctions. Thank you!
