Navajo Ganado Squash Blossom Rug. Central jagged diamond with alternating colors expanding to the edges, in browns, pinks, greys, and white tones. 

Size: 36 1/2 x 16 1/2 in. 

#5392 . 

Navajo weaving (called diyogí in their language) are textiles produced by Navajo people, who are based near the Four Corners area of the Southwestern United States. Navajo textiles are highly regarded and have been sought after as trade items for more than 150 years, with commercial production of handwoven blankets and rugs an important element of the Navajo economy. Navajo textiles were originally utilitarian weavings including cloaks, dresses, saddle blankets, and similar items, likely learned from their earlier Pueblo neighbors, but by the mid-19th Century Navajo wearing blankets were trade items prized by Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and neighboring tribes. Toward the end of the 19th Century Navajo weavers began to make rugs for non-Native tourists and for export. When William Randolph Hearst began to amass a collection of them and had favorable articles written about the process they experienced a boost in popularity in the early 20th Century. Earlier Navajo textiles have strong geometric patterns, with modern designs appearing to appease the desires of the changing consumer base. They are a flat tapestry-woven textile produced in a fashion similar to kilims of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, but with some notable differences like avoiding the slit weave technique and keeping only fringe at the corners. Today Navajo weavers work in a wide range of styles from geometric abstraction and representationalism to biomorphic abstraction and use a range of natural undyed sheep wool, natural dyes, and commercial dyes. The most commonly encountered styles are all highly sought after, including Ganado, Two Grey Hills, Red Mesa, Chinle, and Eye Dazzler. Frequent motifs include pictorial representations of spirits and animals, as well as jagged diamonds representing squash blossoms, tall mountains, or thunderous clouds.