HISTORIC NAVAJO RUG, SPIDER WOMAN CROSS, UNUSUAL SQUARE DESIGN, RR TRACK, C1900, NR
Item History & Price
A unique Navajo Serape-sized Transitional Period weaving with bold, graphic Spider Woman Crosses on 4 corners surrounding an enclosed Spider Woman Square.
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)
Neat serape size measuring approximately 38” x 71”. Fresh to the market. Colors bright on both sides. *Please see condition statement below.
This is a NO RESERVE 7 day auction with a minimal starting bid to get things rolling. Everything guaranteed as stated. Shipping includes full insurance. Please check out my many other quality auctions. Thank you!
*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!