A Late Classic Serape with a Spider Woman Opening,
Navajo, circa 1865, also known as the Lillie Serape.
A Late Classic Serape with a Spider Woman Opening, Navajo, circa 1865, also known as the Lillie Serape.
The serape measures 72 inches long by 53 inches wide, as woven.
Ex- Charles A. Lillie (1857-1941), Angel Camp, California.
Ex- Prescott Knock, Lillie’s great-great grandson, Lafayette, Colorado.
Ex- David Cook, Denver, from Knock, 2012.
Purchased by Sally and Peter Herfurth, of Minneapolis, 2013, from Cook.
In the collection of the Minneapolis Art Institute, Minneapolis, by donation
from Sally and Peter Herfurth, 2022.
Ex- Charles A. Lillie (1857-1941), Angel Camp, California. Ex- Prescott Knock, Lillie’s great-great grandson, Lafayette, Colorado. Ex- David Cook, Denver, from Knock, 2012. Purchased by Sally and Peter Herfurth, of Minneapolis, 2013, from Cook.
In the collection of the Minneapolis Art Institute, Minneapolis, by donation from Sally and Peter Herfurth, 2022.
The central diamond of a Late Classic Serape
with a Spider Woman Opening, Navajo, circa 1865,
also known as the Lillie Serape.
The central diamond of a Late Classic Serape with a Spider Woman Opening, Navajo, circa 1865, also known as the Lillie Serape.
In the serape, a Spider Woman opening is visible as a thin, vertical white line at the center of the serape’s central diamond.
A small opening at the center of a Navajo serape is sometimes referred to by the Navajo as a “Spider Woman opening.” Na’ashjeii Asdzaa, or Spider Woman, is worshipped by the Navajo both as a deity and as the first Navajo weaver. She is credited with teaching the arts of spinning and weaving to Navajo women.
In the Lillie Serape, four red yarns appear as wefts. The dark red yarn is a three-ply European machine-spun knitting yarn, also known as Saxony yarn, dyed in the skein with cochineal. Both the medium red and plum red yarns are three-ply European machine-spun knitting yarns, also known as Saxony yarns, dyed in the skein with cochineal. The fourth red yarn is a medium red raveled bayeta dyed in the original European woolen fabric with a mixture of 80% cochineal and 20% lac.
Two orange yarns appear as wefts. One orange yarn is slightly darker than the other. Both orange yarns are raveled American flannel dyed in the original woolen fabric with synthetic dyes.
A detail of the top center of the Late Classic Serape
with a Spider Woman Opening, Navajo, circa 1865.
In the detail, the green and yellow handspun yarns
appear as stepped blocks in the diagonal terraced designs.
A detail of the top center of the Late Classic Serape with a Spider Woman Opening, Navajo, circa 1865.
In the detail, the green and yellow handspun yarns appear as stepped blocks in the diagonal terraced designs.
In the Lillie Serape, the green yarns are handspun Churro fleece dyed in the yarn with mixtures of indigo and a vegetal dye, either chamisa or rabbit brush. The yellow yarns are handspun Churro fleece dyed in the yarn with a vegetal dye, either chamisa or rabbit brush. The green and yellow yarns are similar in color to green and yellow yarns that appear in other late classic Navajo serapes woven between 1865 and 1870.
The blue yarns are handspun Churro fleece dyed in the yarn with indigo. The blue yarns exhibit a midnight blue color consistent with the midnight blue color of indigo-dyed handspun yarns in other late classic Navajo serapes woven between 1865 and 1870.
The white yarns are un-dyed handspun Churro fleece. The white warps are also un-dyed handspun Churro fleece.
The Lillie Serape’s warps measure 13 to the inch. The serape’s wefts range from 30 to the inch in the handspun areas to 50 to the inch in the areas of raveled bayeta, raveled American flannel, and Saxony. These are fine warp and weft counts for a late classic Navajo serape.
The Lillie Serape’s combination of machine-spun European knitting yarns dyed in the skein with cochineal; raveled bayeta piece-dyed in the original European woolen fabric with a mixture of cochineal and lac; raveled American Flannel piece-dyed in the original woolen fabric with synthetic dyes; green handspun yarns dyed in the yarn with a mixture of indigo and vegetal dyes; yellow handspun yarns dyed in the yarn with vegetal dyes; midnight blue handspun yarns dyed in the yarn with indigo; and un-dyed white handspun yarn, is consistent with combinations of raveled, plied, and handspun yarns which appear in other late classic Navajo serapes woven between 1860 and 1870.
This specific combination of colors and yarns does not appear either in classic Navajo serapes woven prior to 1860 or in late classic Navajo serapes woven after 1870.
