Navajo Bird Pictorial Weaving

Handwoven Navajo wool weaving by Mary Shepherd, featuring a traditional Bird Pictorial design with a large cornstalk emerging from a Navajo ceremonial basket. Dozens of colorful birds surround the cornstalk in shades of blue, purple, red, orange, pink, green, brown, black, and white, with smaller plant and floral motifs woven throughout the composition.

Bird Pictorial designs derive from the Navajo Tree of Life sandpainting tradition. The ceremonial basket represented at the base is traditionally used in healing ceremonies, weddings, and other special occasions, while the cornstalk is one of the four sacred plants of the Navajo people. The surrounding birds and vegetation represent the renewal of life.

A serrated brown border frames the pictorial field, finished with a broad black outer border.

32.5” (2' 8.5”) Width, 52.5” (4' 4.5”) Length