A Classic Third Phase Chief’s Blanket with Manchester Bayeta, Navajo, circa 1850, also known as the Manchester Third Phase.

The third phase measures 60 inches long by 69 inches wide, as woven.

Chief’s blankets with terraced diamonds, half-diamonds, and quarter-diamonds are called “third phases.” This is a bayeta style third phase, with thin red stripes between its design elements.

Ex- private collection, Saint Joseph, Michigan. Ex- Jerry Becker, Pine, Colorado. Becker purchased the third phase from the Saint Joseph private collector in 2000. Purchased by Bill Banks, of Elkhart, Indiana, from Becker, in 2000. Purchased by Joshua Baer & Company from Banks, in 2017, on behalf of the current owner.

Exhibited: Agnes Martin / Navajo Blankets, Pace Gallery, Palo Alto and Chelsea / New York, 2018.

The third phase contains a significant design anomaly. While the upper points of the lower triangles, as pictured, are outlined with blue diagonal terraces, the lower points of the upper triangles lack blue diagonal terraces.

Weaving a classic chief’s blanket took at least one year. The deliberate nature of Navajo weaving rules out the possibility that this anomaly was the result of either an accident or an oversight by the weaver. The weaver wanted the upper points of her lower triangles to have blue edges, and the lower points of her upper triangles to have red edges, where each of those six points overlapped into their white bands.

The red yarns are raveled Manchester bayeta piece-dyed with cochineal. The blue yarns are handspun Churro fleece dyed in the yarn with indigo. The brown yarns and the white yarns are un-dyed handspun Churro fleece.