Rio Grande Saltillo Blanket, Circa 1860

Northern New Mexico

Wool | Item 153

This blanket is one of the best Rio Grande blankets on the market. Rio Grande blankets are blankets woven by the Hispanic people that settled in the Rio Grande River valley of what is now New Mexico. I use the subjective term of “slave blanket” when referring to the history of this blanket, since I believe it was likely woven by a Navajo but on a Spanish loom in a Spanish Colonial household. It was not unusual for a successful Spanish household to have Navajo weavers as either paid workers or as slaves. The “Navajoness” is there because of the complex design and skill required, and because of the idiosyncratic design features such as the change in indigo blue from dark to light. Navajo weavers were much more inclined to be unpredictable with their personal weaving choices in contrast to Spanish weavers which tended to be regimented and predictable.

This blanket shows how Northern Mexico’s (what is now New Mexico) predilection for individuality effects their interpretation of the saltillo blanket. The saltillo blanket was a wealthy man’s blanket of the 17th and 18th centuries in Mexico. These were very finely woven blankets with highly complex designs, and typically had a layered diamond in the center. The zig zag pattern going on in this Rio is an extrapolation of the much finer zig zag seen in the early Mexican saltillos. The same can be said of this blanket’s saltillo diamond center as compared to the Mexican ones. These Rios, in comparison to the Mexican saltillos, are more coarse not just in weaving texture, but also in design. The isolation from Mexico City allowed these Northern Hispanic settlements to grow apart from the center in design methods, texture, patterns, and materials. The collectibility of Rio Grande blankets comes from their high degree of individuality. They have their own type of soul, a soul that shows the struggles and triumphs of living so remotely.

This blanket was woven in two parts and joined together in the center, a classic quality coming out of theSpanish loom. There is a beautiful dye shift in the indigo from dark to light. This reflects all the way into the center where the saltillo diamond floats on a dark field of brown weft. One side of this brown field is dissected with fine, dark indigo blue bands, and light indigo blue bands on the other. It’s like the blanket has two personalities. This is one of the qualities that I love about this weaving.

Take note on the last photo of the inventory number on this blanket. This blanket was first collected by George Gustave Heye (1874 – January 20th, 1957). He was an American collector of Native American artifacts in the Western Hemisphere, particularly in North America. He founded the Museum of the American Indian, and his collection became the core of the National Museum of the American Indian.  This number has a reference in the cataloging that he did explaining where it came from. I have yet to look up what this inventory number means. It’s a mystery waiting to be solved!