Blanket fragment. The textile is woven of thick wool, with lines of fabric plaited vertically- two lines of dark brown on each end and two of magenta at centre. Tassels hang from one of the narrow ends, while the adjacent edge has been cut, causing the weaving to loosen and fray over time. Cuts to the centre strands have partially cleaved the textile in two.

The wool is sheep.

Thick, off-white, twill weave blanket or robe. Densely woven, wrapped along the short edges, with a heavy, short fringe on the long edges. Small pieces of red wool are occasionally visible as caught up in the weave. (Various areas with condition issues, especially along lower edge.)

Museum Purchase: Indian Collection Subscription Fund, Rasmussen Collection of Northwest Coast Indian Art.

Museum Purchase: Indian Collection Subscription Fund, Rasmussen Collection of Northwest Coast Indian Art.

Museum Purchase: Indian Collection Subscription Fund, Rasmussen Collection of Northwest Coast Indian Art.

Chilkat style robe with woven designs and fringe. The design is in three panels, with an ancestor face in the middle and animal motifs above, below and to the sides. The design is yellow, light blue and dark brown on natural ground. A long twisted fringe of mixed wool and cedar bark hangs from the bottom. Two cotton ties are sewn to the top, along with eight (non-original) cotton twill hanging loops.

Chilkat blankets, created by a complex form of tapestry twining, are the best-known textiles of the Northwest Coast. Emblems of nobility, they are prized for their crest significance, as well as for their beauty and fine workmanship. The labor-intensive process used to create a Chilkat blanket includes procuring and processing the materials, spinning the mountain goat wool wefts and the cedar bark and wood warps, dying the wefts, and weaving the blanket. The highly abstract designs of crest animals on Chilkat blankets fill the entire design space. The center panel of this design represents a diving whale, with the broad head filling the lower half while the spread-out tail flukes occupy the space along the upper border. A rectangular human face appears in the center of the whale's body.

Museum Purchase: Indian Collection Subscription Fund, Rasmussen Collection of Northwest Coast Indian Art.