Panel
1000-1476
Medium
Cotton and wool (camelid), slit tapestry weave with eccentric and interlaced outlining wefts; edged with plain weave extended weft loop fringe
Dimensions
91.4 × 48.6 cm (36 × 19 1/8 in.)
Classification
weaving
Department
Textiles
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
85245
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
At first glance, this panel of anthropomorphized monkeys engaged in violent conflict appears to be woven with a repeating pattern. However, no group is identical to another: each thread has been placed deliberately, and each motif formed with careful discernment. This panel’s dense tapestry weave creates the distinctive curvilinear forms characteristic of Peruvian textiles. Stitching tracks and threads at the top and bottom indicate that this panel is only part of a greater whole, perhaps a tun...
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...