Germantown Klagetoh Center Design Rug

Germantown Klagetoh Center Design Rug

Unknown weaver

1885 – 1890

Bob: The four panels of this weaving at first glance have horizontal and vertical line symmetries, but don’t be fooled! This kind of symmetry is closer to what mathematicians call “symmetry around the origin.” If you take the upper-left panel, fold it down (to cover the lower left panel) and then to the right, you would see that it matches the lower-right panel. I find this playful.

Henry: This is a male blanket. The center represents the eye of the thunder.

Bob: Imagine two different ways of wearing this blanket. One is to wrap it around your shoulders so that the long side is parallel to your shoulders. The other way is to wrap it around your shoulders so that the short side is parallel to your shoulders. If you could wrap it around you each way so that the edges of the panels just touched, how would the patterns match up? This too is an important design consideration for the weaver!