Nineteenth Century Navajo Nation Ceremonial Basket [SOLD]

It is generally thought that the Navajo migrated from the Northwest to the Southwest about 500 years ago.  An *Athabascan people, they had come from the area around what is now the Canadian border. Navajo oral tradition and tree-ring dating suggest an earlier arrival in the vicinity of Chaco Canyon between roughly 900 and 1130 A.D.

Early studies of Navajo basketry compared Ancestral Puebloan and Navajo weaving techniques and concluded that there were similarities in the foundation of the baskets and in a herringbone rim finish.  This could indicate that Navajo basketry had its beginnings after their arrival in the Southwest and their contact with the Pueblo people.

Early Navajo baskets were of a large variety of designs but by the early 20th century, these designs morphed into a single design that persists today as the “Navajo ceremonial basket.”  Such baskets have become known as “Navajo wedding baskets” but that name is restrictive as they are used in numerous ceremonies, not just wedding ceremonies.

This basket is quite possibly from as early as the 1880s.  It has four triangular designs connected with stepped designs in triangular shape.  Above each of the main design elements is a small design that might resemble a steer head but is quite possibly the beginning of the Spider Woman crosses, a design used in baskets before the 1900s.   In the triangles, there are three rows, above the three black rows, that show faint traces of red color. This would be an indication that the three rows of red were important enough to bring forward to today’s ceremonial basket designs.

The designs on this basket are just one of many pre-1900 designs used by the Navajo, none of which are in use today.  The design used by the Navajo today had its beginning around 1900 or shortly after. Many, if not most, Navajo baskets today are made by the Ute Indians for use by the Navajo.  The Ute do not use them for their own use. The pre-1900 baskets were made by the Navajo themselves.

Condition: this Nineteenth Century Navajo Nation Ceremonial Basket is in very good condition with minor stitch loss

Provenance: from a gentleman from Colorado

Recommended Reading: Navajo Ceremonial Baskets: Sacred Symbols Sacred Space by Georgiana Kennedy Simpson

*The tribes of the Apache and Navajo are now associated with the desert areas of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, but this region was not always their home. Their ancestors migrated into the region within historical times. The original homeland of the tribes was northwestern Canada and eastern Alaska. The discovery of this origin was through linguistics. - San José State University