Late Classic Antique Navajo (circa 1870-1875) Men’s Third Phase Chief Blanket with all Homespun Wool with Natural Wool Colors, Indigo Blue, and American Flannel Red (Raveled Trade Cloth).

Provenance (see photos): Edward Everett Ayer (1841 - 1927)

This weaving has come from Edward Ayer’s personal collection, and is one of the last remaining American Indian items to have descended within the Ayer family. Railroad tycoon, Civil War veteran, Chicago philanthropist, and avid world traveler, Edward Ayer was one of the world’s great collectors of archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, and one of the founders of the Field Museum in Chicago, as well as the institution’s first president. At a time when few people even recognized the historical value of American Indian artifacts, Ayer traveled the West collecting weavings, Plains material, pottery, and Western Americana, thus preserving the history, culture, and art of Native American peoples and the Old West. Ayer was also a long-time trustee of the Field Museum and the driving force in convincing Marshall Field and other wealthy contemporaries of the day to fund the building of this historic institution.

70” (5.83') Width, 52” (4.33') Length