Mary Cabot Wheelwright, founder of the Wheelwright Museum in Santa Fe, probably started the “vegetal revival” by providing weavers around Chinle, Arizona with the new dyes and sketches of old weavings. Chinle Revival rugs typically feature bands of repeating geometric motifs alternated with plain or striped bands of contrasting colors. Common colors for Chinle rugs include yellow, gold, brown, tan, terra cotta, soft pink and other earth tones, as well as natural wool colors ranging from white to black. About the time of World War II, Crystal-area weavers developed their own banded revival rugs bearing no resemblance to Moore’s early designs. Generally known as Modern Crystal rugs, these borderless patterns often combine vegetal and aniline colors in shades of brown, yellow, and terra cotta with natural greys and whites.

The imitators may use wool but there are poor fakes made in Mexico that use polyester. Some fakes made in India or Pakistan use a blend of wool and polyester or acrylic. Contrary to another author, sniffing the rug to determine if the rug is made from wool is not useful. Much of the wool use in contemporary Navajo rugs has very little lanolin and doesn't smell at all. Older rugs may have been cleaned or have acquired other odors. It is comic to watch a potential buyer go through a store's inventory sniffing the rugs. A buyer should learn to distinguish the look and feel of wool from other materials. While there are more scientific means of testing for wool, they are usually not practical in the context of purchasing a rug from a store or Indian arts dealer.

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As the modern trappings of Anglo culture filtered onto the Reservation, strange new objects such as cattle, trains, American flags, and letters of the alphabet caught the fancy of some weavers. Pictorials made before the 1940s are relatively uncommon and usually command a premium price from collectors. After World War II, however, more weavers began making pictorial weavings, frequently filling a small rug with a single scene. Types that have been especially popular since the 1970s include landscape scenes which usually feature red cliffs or mountains, blue sky and clouds, juniper and pine trees, hogans, farm animals, trucks, and people.

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Nevertheless, sand painting rugs were very rare before the 1960s when weavers in the Ganado area began producing them in larger numbers. Although they are not sacred objects in themselves, rugs showing sacred sandpainting images have always been somewhat controversial within the Navajo community, and many weavers still decline to make such representations. Yei pattern rugs feature images of the Holy People drawn from ceremonial sand paintings but do not recreate an entire painting. Typically, the Yeis are highly stylized figures with elongated bodies, short straight legs, and heads facing the viewer.

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Despite the obvious symbolism of patterns such as the “Tree of Life,” most pictorial motifs had no specific religious meaning; they simply were objects common in the culture or of special interest to the weaver. The major exceptions to this rule, however, were weavings that portrayed Yeis, or Navajo Holy People, and weavings that recreated sacred ceremonial sand paintings. A small number of weavers made Sand Painting Rugs as early as the 1890s in the area around Two Grey Hills. Most famously, the medicine man Hosteen Klah made a series of sand painting rugs with the help of his mother and nieces between 1919 and 1936.

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It is important to remember that if you are unsure whether a rug is authentic Navajo, you should not purchase it. To ensure you get authentic Navajo rugs, you should work with a trusted dealer.

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Among the many styles of Native American rugs, Navajo rugs are especially beautiful. They have been around for more than 500 years and are considered one of a kind. Prices for these pieces range anywhere from $500 to tens of thousands of dollars. If you are looking for an authentic Navajo rug, you should shop on Chairish. These rugs were created by Navajo weavers.

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