5 x 9 Antique Klagetoh Navajo Rug 78563

78563 Antique Klagetoh Navajo Rug, 05'06 x 09'03.

Woven beneath the ancestral skies of the Four Corners, this handwoven wool antique Klagetoh Navajo rug tells a story shaped by earth, sky, and ceremony. Its meditative geometry, anchored by twin stepped diamonds each enclosing a solemn cross, speaks with the symbolic weight of protection and balance- a language older than words, passed through loom and lineage. The weaver, working in the early decades of the 20th century, would have carded, spun, and dyed each strand of wool by hand, coaxing color from the natural world and meaning from memory. The resulting textile is more than a weaving; it is a cosmographic map rendered in the elemental tones of the desert—iron-rich reds, storm-gray, taupe, warm beige, greige, and the black of sacred night.

At the heart of the composition are two monumental medallions, each with red and black stepped edges that pulse with spiritual rhythm, recalling both the protective mountains that cradle Dinetah and the sacred zigzag paths of lightning and emergence. Within each diamond lies a cruciform figure—not a mark of conquest, but a symbol of the four directions, of cosmic harmony, of prayers sent outward. These crosses radiate a centering force, as if they hold the world steady. Around them, jagged lines form a chorus of motion, mirroring the natural undulation of rainclouds, river paths, or migration routes etched into collective memory.

The undyed churro wool base exhibits a lustrous range of greys and browns, achieved through expert blending and carding, while the vegetal and possibly early aniline reds pulse like heartbeats throughout the design. This restraint in palette—limited, deliberate, and elemental—is what defines Klagetoh work. The central field is left open and grounded, drawing the eye to its internal symmetries without overwhelming the senses. 

This Early 20th Century piece emerges from a pivotal moment in Navajo textile history, when regional styles were gaining their voices and weavers, though influenced by market forces, began asserting design sovereignty. This Klagetoh weaving is an act of architectural clarity- each motif placed with sacred intent, each color chosen with reverence. It is a prayer in wool, a landscape of protection and alignment, spun not only to warm bodies but to guide spirits. In its silent symmetry and hand-hewn texture, one hears the echo of the loom's rhythm, the hum of wind over mesa, and the quiet strength of the weaver's vision carried forward.

• Rendered in variegated shades of gray, black, red, beige, and charcoal with other accent colors.
• Navajo. Klagetoh.
• Abrash.
• Handwoven wool.
• Made in America.
• Measures: 05'06 x 09'03.
• Date: 1910's. Early 20th Century.