Panel
1000-1476
Medium
Cotton and wool (camelid), slit tapestry weave with single warp wrapping, outlining and eccentric wefts, and uncut weft loop pile
Dimensions
89.9 × 41 cm (35 3/8 × 16 1/8 in.)
Classification
textile
Department
Textiles
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
85259
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This vibrantly colored textile fragment displays a series of repeated designs presented in alternating rows of motifs. In one row, depictions of guanacos or vicuñas—two camelids native to the Andean highlands—appear between images of the animals’ pelts, which are shown as if splayed out and flattened. Areas of loop pile woven using a dark brown pile create dimensionality in the piece while suggesting the texture of the animal’s fleece, whose soft and warm wool was highly valued by weavers throug...