Navajo JB Moore Crystal rug
1911 Catalog Plate XXIV
woven by Bi-leen Alpi Bi-zha-ahd (according to Plate XXIV in 1911 JB Moore Catalog
Provenance available
Excellent condition
Circa 1911
This Regional rug has the distinction of being one of the rare
identical examples of a pattern pictured in the J B Moore Crystal Trading Post Catalog of 1911. While it is not the exact piece illustrated in the Catalog (this rug is smaller than the one in the photos), it is an exact duplicate in terms of design and colors used.
It is rare that an attribution to weaver can be made to a textile woven before World War II. The catalog clearly identifies the weaver with a photo of her helping hold the one illustrated in the catalog.
The completion of the railroads led to the formation of new trading posts in New Mexico and Arizona. There was now a way that traders could market Navajo textiles to the large Anglo market in the Midwest, East, and West. JB Moore developed a marketing strategy of publishing Catalogues of Navajo textiles. Buyers could order from the catalogue, indicating the design by the Plate number and specifying the color and size of the textile. they wanted.
The Navajos are extremely artistic, creative and adaptabe. The weaver often made her own modifications to the design ordered. Thus it is rare to have a textile that is the exact plate.
Marcy Burns American Indian Arts, LLC
525 East 72nd Street, Suite 26G
New York, New York 10021
(by appointment only)
