Border Fragment
1000-1476
Medium
Cotton and wool (camelid), bands of plain weave, slit tapestry weave with wrapping outlining wefts, and three-color complementary weft weave; edged with plain weave extended weft loop fringe
Dimensions
34.2 × 39.3 cm (13 1/2 × 15 1/2 in.)
Classification
weaving
Department
Textiles
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
85502
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The Chancay primarily occupied the Huaura, Chancay, and Chillón river valleys along the central coast of Peru. Despite the fact that numerous examples of Chancay artwork survive, little is known about their culture and textile tradition. However, the quality of Chancay textiles demonstrates the importance of the artform within this enigmatic community. Rows of venomous scorpions scurry across the central area of this fragment, accompanied by a band of interlocking birds. These noctrnal arachnids...
About the Artist
Chancay
The Chancay were a pre-Columbian culture that flourished along the central coast of Peru, in the valleys of the Huaura, Chancay, Chillón, and surrounding rivers, from approximately 1000 to 1470 CE. Emerging after the decline of the Wari civilization, the Chancay developed a distinctive artistic identity that set them apart from their Andean contemporaries, one defined above all by extraordinary ma...