NOTES
The black-and-white diamond border, vertical orientation, and large size of this work relate to a period of change in Diné textiles. Previously, designs on smaller wearing blankets and dresses ran across the entire textile, horizontally from side to side.
During the last decades of the 19th century, weavers transitioned from creating garments to producing home decor such as rugs. New domestic markets emerged in the Southwest tourist industry and across the United States through mail order catalogs and department stores. In hopes of capitalizing on American consumer tastes, some wholesalers introduced Diné weavers to the bordered designs of Ottoman textiles, at the time purchased widely for interior decoration.
