Top of Double-Sided Saddle Blanket

From the press release:
They Wove for Horses: Diné Saddle Blankets


Two-faced weave and diagonal-twill weave
single saddle blanket, 1900–1915


Cotton warp, handspun wool weft and commercial dyes
Mrs. Phillip Stewart Collection, courtesy of John and Linda Comstock and the Abigail Van Vleck Charitable Trust (9517/12)


Diné who examined this two-faced saddle blanket drew different nterpretations from the designs on each side. Most identified the tripes as a rainbow against the white background. The other side as variously interpreted. The middle motifs might be male and emale, life lines or numerical symbols. The straight stems were iewed as childhood and old age intersected by the circular shape of
adulthood. Excerpt from Weaving a World: Textiles and the Navajo Way of Seeing y Roseann S. Willink and Paul G. Zolbrod (Museum of New Mexico Press, 1997)

Usage: Courtesy Museum of Indian Arts and Culture

Credit: Photo Blair Clark


Note: Representative image at left is often cropped for display purposes. Downloaded high-resolution images are not cropped.