A Germantown Eye-dazzler Serape, Navajo, circa 1880, also known as the Berlant Eye-dazzler Serape. The serape measures 76 inches long by 52 inches wide, as woven.

Serrated diagonals and vertically connected diamonds often appear in Germantown eye-dazzler serapes. In this serape, the weaver’s use of Germantown yarns in at least ten distinct colors gives each diamond its own character and profile.

Ex- Tony Berlant, Santa Monica, California. Acquired from Berlant in 1994, by Joshua Baer & Company, Santa Fe, on behalf of the current owner.

Illustrated as Plate 53 in Berlant and Kahlenberg, Walk In Beauty, New York Graphic Society, Boston, 1977. Dated “1875-1885” by Berlant and Kahlenberg.

Exhibited: The Berlant Collection of Navajo Blankets, Machida Museum, Tokyo, 1981. Illustrated as Plate 38 in Berlant and Whitaker, The Berlant Collection of Navajo Blankets, Machida Museum, Tokyo, 1981, the exhibition catalog. Dated “circa 1890” by Berlant and Whitaker.

All of the yarns in the eye-dazzler serape are four-ply machine spun knitting yarns also known as Germantown yarns, dyed in their skeins with synthetic dyes.