Tunic shoulder fragment
1000-1476
Medium
Cotton and wool (camelid), slit and single dovetail tapestry weave; edged with weft-faced plain weave with extended weft cut fringe
Dimensions
89.2 × 53.3 cm (35 1/8 × 21 in.)
Classification
weaving
Department
Textiles
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
85460
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This panel features a checkerboard pattern of openwork squares and squares with crested birds or ducks in profile. The top and bottom borders are patterned with rows of anthropomorphic figures, perhaps felines or monkeys. The use of tapestry weave to create recognizable motifs, combined with the squares of openwork, demonstrates the artistry and talent of Andean weavers.
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...