A Classic First Phase Chief’s Blanket, Ute Style, Navajo, circa 1800-1830,
also known as the Morgan First Phase.

A Classic First Phase Chief’s Blanket, Ute Style, Navajo, circa 1800-1830, also known as the Morgan First Phase.

The first phase measures 52 inches long by 63 inches wide, as woven.

Chief’s blankets with horizontal bands and stripes, but no designs, are called “first phases.” This is a Ute Style first phase, with no thin red stripes.

The large, variegated brown central panel and medium blue stripes support the circa 1800-1830 circa date. See the Cahn First Phase for similar medium blue stripes.

Ex- Anna Morgan, Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania. Morgan purchased the first phase from the Fred Harvey Company, in Albuquerque, during the 1910s.

Ex- David Cook, Denver, from the estate of Anna Morgan, 2016.

Purchased from Cook by Joshua Baer & Company, Santa Fe, in 2018, on behalf of the current owner.

The medium and dark blue yarns are both handspun Churro fleece dyed in the yarn with indigo. Both of the blue yarns exhibit an unusual degree of color variegation.

The brown yarns are un-dyed handspun Churro fleece, carded and spun from at least three different brown fleeces. The brown central panel has pronounced atmospheric depth.

The white yarns are un-dyed handspun Churro fleece.