Warrior Fragments
100 BCE-200 CE
Medium
Cotton, simple looping ground; wool (camelid) cross-knit looping and cross-knit loop stitch embroidery
Dimensions
a: 6.4 × 5.7 cm (2 1/2 × 2 1/4 in.) b: 6.4 × 5.7 cm (2 1/2 × 2 1/4 in.) c: 6.4 × 8.9 cm (2 1/2 × 3 1/2 in.) d: 6.7 × 8.3 cm (2 5/8 × 3 1/4 in.) e: 6.4 × 13 cm (2 1/2 × 5 1/8 in.) f: 6.4 × 13 cm (2 1/2 × 5 1/8 in.) g: 6.4 × 4.5 cm (2 1/2 × 1 3/4 in.) h: 6.4 × 4.1 cm (2 1/4 × 1 5/8 in.)
Classification
textile
Department
Textiles
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
148858
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Although small in scale, these figures--likely fragments from a border attached to the edge of a solid-colored plain woven textile--potently convey the Nazca worldview. All but one appears as a warrior in elaborate costume. The unadorned figure wears only a loincloth and has an inverted head and partially exposed ribcage, details that indicate that he is a captive intended for sacrifice. The Nazca offered blood, the most sacred substance of life, to honor the supernatural forces governing the na...
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 ...