Exceptional Vintage Vivian Blue Eyes Pictorial Navajo Female Yei Rug Southwest

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Exceptional Vintage Vivian Blue Eyes Pictorial Navajo Female Yei Rug Southwest:
$520.00

An absolutely exceptional, finely woven Female Yei / Yei-be-chai rug by Vivian Blue Eyes. This piece appears to be quite old-perhaps 1930\'s, but very expertly woven. It measures 32in across x 18in wide. The Yei are all wearing high heels, with square heads (commonly used todepict female gender, circular is to depict male), and blueheaddresses (also denoting female). The women are done in beautiful maroon, turquoise, teal, tan, brown, and black, and they are all carrying forks. The light gray background is pristine, and the border is darker gray.
According to Garland\'s Navajo Rugs:“Yei” (pronounced “yay”) is the Navajo name for the benevolentsupernatural beings who bring their healing power to medicinal ceremonies stillperformed today. In fact, they were first portrayed in traditional sandpaintingdesigns created for these ceremonies, but the modern Yei rug is more of apictorial composition, showing a row of the front- facing stylized stickfigures. Between the Yeis cornstalks, feathers and arrows may appear, and aRainbow Guardian often surrounds and protects the figures on three sides,indicating the sandpainting roots of this particular style.
“Yei-be-chai” is the name of the masked human dancer participating in theactual healing ceremony and impersonating the Yei. The Yei-be-chai rug portraysa line of dancers, usually shown from the side and often with one foot raisedas though in a synchronized dancing motion. The patient for whom the ceremonyis being held may be shown facing the procession. The medicine man and “TalkingGod” often lead the way, and a clown is often shown at the end of the line.