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| CLASSIC NAVAJO THIRD PHASE CHIEFS BLANKET, circa 1850 |
 During the second half of the 19th century, the primary market for Navajo blankets shifted from other Native American tribes to Anglo-Americans. While native Americans had preferred Navajo Blankets featuring simple arrangements of horizontal stripes, Anglo Americans found the relative simplicity of first and second phase chief's blankets uninspiring, Anglo Americans also preferred bordered compositions to unbordered compositions, probably because most Oriental carpets featured bordered compositions.
In response to the Anglo American preferences, Navajo weavers introduced the concentric diamond to their chief's blankets. The chief's blanket's traditional, horizontally striped field was decorated by the arrangement of a full central diamond surrounded by eight partial diamonds. This gave the chief's blanket a focal point, and the suggestion of a border. Almost overnight, the diamond pattern (or “third phase" pattern, as it is more commonly known) became extremely popular among Anglo American tourists, settlers, military personnel and merchants throughout the Americana west. In this superb example, the bold design and restrained size of the diamonds strikes an elegant balance with the striped field. The result is an icon of the 19th century Navajo weaving. - Joshua Baer |
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