Chilkat robes represent the pinnacle of northern Northwest Coast weaving traditions, based on two-and three-strand twining of mountain goat wool yarn over alternate warps of two-ply goat wool yarn spun with yellow cedar bark fibres for reinforcement. The yarns are spun by rolling with a hand on the spinner’s thigh, adding in strands of new wool as the spin progresses. The weaving itself proceeds with the two-strand twining laid around vertical, gravity-hung warps, and three-strand twining that is only joined on the weft yarns, and therefore not visible on the back of the weaving. This creates a kind of raised border on all the design elements, lending the fabric a subtle three-dimensional appearance.

The classic Chilkat robe, known as Naaxein in the Tlingit language, features parallel yellow and black borders around the perimeter, with a formline design that usually fills the space within them. Sometime in the nineteenth century, the concept of a symmetrical centre panel with profile designs on the side panels was conventionalized, as can be seen in this example. In some robes, the centre panel design represents a crest being, and the side panels display profiles of the same creature. Others exhibit a less defined relationship between centre and side panels. Late in the Naaxein tradition, more configurative designs were created upon a white background. In this robe, the centre panel appears to represent a sea mammal, probably a whale, with the head on the bottom, body and pectoral fins on the sides and the wide tail spanning across the top of the field. The side panels are formline whale profiles, with the head, body and fins represented in an abstract collection of design elements connected by black formlines.

This robe is in exceptionally good condition, from the headline across the top to the tips of the warp fringe at the bottom. Colors yellow and blue-green have survived well, though the same colors on the back side show what they originally looked like prior to UV light exposure on the front. The inevitable fading has been minimal, much less than with many historical Chilkat robes. The design of the classic diving whale has been very cleanly woven, the design shapes well defined and smooth, with only small wiggles in some ovoid forms.

Steven C. Brown

References: For a robe of similar design see Stephen C. Brown, Native Visions: Evolution in Northwest Coast Art from the Eighteenth through the Twentieth Century, (Seattle Art Museum, 1998), fig. 5.25, p. 127. See Cheryl Samuel, The Chilkat Dancing Blanket, (Norman: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1990); see also the section on Chilkat blankets in George Thorton Emmons and Frederica de Laguna, The Tlingit Indians, (AMNH and Univ. of Washington Press, 1991) pp. 224-233.