Woven Blanket Item Number: E168292-0 from the National Museum of Natural History

Notes

FROM CARD: "MOUNTAIN GOAT WOOL DYED BROWN, YELLOW AND BLUE, WOVEN ON A WARP OF WOOL AND BRAIDED CEDAR-BARK FIBERS; DEERSKIN TYING STRAPS. ILLUS. IN THE FAR NORTH CATALOG, NAT. GALL. OF ART, 1973, P. 216. 168,292 LOANED TO THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART OCTOBER 20, 1972. RETURNED 5-29-73 A NATION OF NATIONS 12/75 LOAN RETURNED AUG 1988." Illus. Fig. 563b, p. 372, in "The Chilkat Blanket" by George T. Emmons, Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. 3, part 4, 1907.Shgen George, weaver, and Shirley Kendall. elder, made the following comments during the Tlingit Recovering Voices Community Research Visit, March 13-March 24, 2017. The top of this blanket is stretched due to use. The design of the head of this suggests diving whale, but the absence of a tail leaves it unclear. Diving whale designs are not clan-specific. Shirley notes that she was told in a diving whale design, faces in the middle typically have a yellow mask, but if it's plain, the design is meant to relfect the spirit of the animal.