A Classic Bayeta Serape, Navajo, circa 1840,
also known as the Big Red Serape.
A Classic Bayeta Serape, Navajo, circa 1840, also known as the Big Red Serape.
The serape measures 71 inches long by 54 inches wide, as woven.
The serape is ex- Tony Berlant, Santa Monica. Berlant started collecting Navajo blankets in 1969. The Big Red Serape was one of the first classic bayeta serapes collected by Berlant.
In 1974, the serape was exhibited in Navajo Blankets From The Collection Of Tony Berlant, at the University of Arizona Museum, in Tucson. The serape was illustrated on the cover, and as Plate 2, in Wheat, Navajo Blankets From The Collection Of Tony Berlant, 1974; the exhibition catalog. In his caption, Wheat dates the serape “1830-1850.”
Purchased by Margot and John Ernst, New York, from Berlant, 1978. The serape remained in the Ernsts’ collection for forty-three years. Between 1996 and 2006, the Ernsts were the co-chairs of the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, at Bowling Green, in New York City.
In 2021, the serape was purchased from the Ernsts by Joshua Baer & Company, Santa Fe, on behalf of the current owner.
In the Big Red Serape, the red yarns are raveled bayeta piece-dyed with lac. All of the red yarns were raveled from the same bolt of bayeta. The blue yarns are handspun Churro fleece dyed in the yarn with indigo. The white yarns are un-dyed handspun Churro fleece.
[Left]
A Classic Bayeta Serape, Navajo, circa 1830,
also known as the Big Red Serape.
A Classic Bayeta Serape, Navajo, circa 1830, also known as the Big Red Serape.
The serape measures 81 inches long by 53 inches wide, as woven.
[Right]
The de Menil Serape, Navajo, circa 1830.
The serape measures 71 inches long by 55 inches wide, as woven.
The five sets of vertical green and red rectangles in the top and bottom panels are unique to the de Menil Serape.
The de Menil Serape is illustrated as Plate VIII, Baer, “Space and Design,” The Magazine Antiques, 1989.
The de Menil Serape is ex- Tony Berlant, Santa Monica; and ex- Christophe de Menil, Houston and New York, from Berlant, 1978. Christophe de Menil is the daughter of Dominique and John de Menil, the co-founders of the Menil Collection, the Rothko Chapel, and the Cy Twombly Pavilion, in Houston.
In 1988, Morning Star Gallery in Santa Fe purchased the serape from the de Menil Family. Later in 1988, Margot and John Ernst, of New York, purchased the serape from Morning Star Gallery, Santa Fe, 1988. Between 1996 and 2006, the Ernsts were the co-chairs of the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, at Bowling Green, New York. In 2018, the serape was purchased from the Ernsts by the current owner.
In the de Menil Serape, there are two red yarns, a dark red yarn and a medium red yarn. The darker of the two red yarns is visible in the detail running as an irregular horizontal shape across the blue dashes above the central diamonds. Both the dark and medium red yarns are raveled bayeta piece-dyed with pure lac.
The blue yarns are handspun churro fleece dyed in the yarn with indigo. The white yarns are un-dyed handspun Churro fleece.
