Sampler
1 CE-200 CE
Medium
Cotton, plain weave; embroidered with cotton and wool (camelid) in back, cross, double running, running, satin, and stem stitches
Dimensions
60 × 37.8 cm (23 5/8 × 14 7/8 in.)
Classification
textile
Department
Textiles
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
2059
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Images of birds are often presented in polychrome ceramics and textiles created by Nazca artists. the birds depicted in this panel are delicately rendered in white outlining and colored highlights, with embroidery reminiscent of earlier Paracas needlework. In their beaks, they carry various flora along with crustaceans, fish, insects, snakes, spiders, and worms. The design may have deeper meaning, using the food chain as a metaphor for transformation. There is a group of several similar examples...
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 ...