For the first time, The Baltimore Museum of Art will display the more than 25 wool trade blankets in its textile collection in “Woven Rainbows: American Indian Trade Blankets.”

On view November 9 through May 14, these geometric patterned blankets were produced by American woolen mills for sale and trade to Native Americans between the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries. Inspired by Indian designs, they quickly became objects of prestige for tribal members, preferred over their own weavings.

At trading posts, Native Americans would trade their own handwoven blankets, baskets and other goods for these machine made blankets produced by non-Indian manufacturers, including such famous woolen mills as Pendleton, Oregon City and J. Capps & Sons. Native Americans found these commercially produced pieces with their brilliant colors, stylized arrowhead and tepee motifs and geometric designs to be more colorful and more practical than their own blankets.

Yarns were available to factory designers in a variety of hues, from hot pink to chartreuse and the lighter weight and more flexible drape of the blankets produced on sophisticated jacquard looms made them more adaptable than native weaves.

Worn in a variety of ways, as robes for men and shawls for women, the blankets were as much articles of clothing as bedding. Universally embraced by Indians throughout America, trade blankets were owned by Nez Pierce Chief Joseph and Apache leader Geronimo.

Their quality, unique patterning and association with Native Americans made these blankets popular with Anglo Americans. They became items of dramatic and exotic decorations, as will be illustrated by the transformation of one of the museum’s period rooms into a circa 1920 Arts and Crafts-era living room accented with trade blankets and Native American pottery, baskets and textiles from the BMA’s collection.

Ranging from ancient Coptic fragments to innovative late Twentieth Century Japanese and American fabrics, the museum’s collection of more than 5,000 textiles spans nearly 2,000 years and features objects from American, European and non-Western cultures.

Nine Element Arrowhead robe or blanket, circa 1920s, made by Pendleton Woolen Mills. American. Wool weft, cotton warp; 761/4 by 59 inches. The Baltimore Museum of Art; gift of Dena S. Katzenberg, Baltimore.

Highlights include examples of early American needlework, adistinguished collection of Baltimore album quilts, significantEnglish and French printed textiles from the Eighteenth throughTwentieth centuries (including designs by Christophe-PhilipeOberkampf, William Morris and Raoul Dufy), and an excellent groupof tapestry-woven Kashmir shawls.

In recent years, the museum has concentrated on acquiring Twentieth Century works, with emphasis given to obtaining designs from recognized artists, craftspeople and design centers, as well as fabrics created for seminal events or iconic buildings. Recent acquisitions include textiles by Owen Jones, Alphonse Mucha and Jack Lenor Larsen. Ongoing displays of textiles are featured in the museum’s Berman Textile Gallery.

The Baltimore Museum of Art is open Wednesday through Friday, 11 am to 5 pm; Saturday and Sunday, 11 am to 6 pm; and to 8 pm on the first Thursday of every month.

Admission is $10 for adults; $8 for seniors 65 and over; $6 for college students; and free 18 and under. Admission is free on the first Thursday of every month and for related Free First Thursday activities. The BMA is on Art Museum Drive at North Charles and 31st Streets. For information, 410-396-7100 or artbma.org.