Border Fragment
100 BCE-200 CE
Medium
Cotton, plain weave band; embroidered with cotton and wool (camelid) in stem and cross-knit loop stitches; edged with cross-knit looping tabs
Dimensions
5.4 × 183.5 cm (2 1/8 × 72 1/4 in.)
Classification
textile
Department
Textiles
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
5125
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This small but showy textile composed of three-dimensional birds, butterflies, fish, and spiders was likely a border attached to the edge of a solid-colored plain woven textile. Remarkably detailed, these types of borders celebrate the natural world and highlight the achievements of Nazca dyers. The multiple vibrant colors, produced only through the use of natural substances such as indigo, further emphasizes the natural world’s abundance.
About the Artist
Nasca
Nasca artists, active from approximately 100 BCE to 800 CE along the arid southern coast of Peru in the Rio Grande de Nazca and Ica Valleys, produced some of the most vibrant and technically innovative art of the ancient Americas. Their work emerged from the Paracas tradition, expanding on earlier resin-painted ceramics and complex textiles while introducing pre-fire slip painting in up to twelve ...