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Source Description
Wari tunics are made of two long panels folded at the shoulder line and stitched together at center and side seams, with openings left for the head and arms. The looms on which the panels were woven measured about 80 x 20 inches, with the warps spanning the short dimension. Thus, the warps are horizontal rather than vertical in the garment as it was worn. This orientation is unusual and seems to have influenced the construction of later Inca tunics. In this example, the imagery comprises two profile heads that alternate, one a human and the other an animal that may represent a deer or a bat. Such tunics were luxury goods worn only by privileged individuals.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
126684
label
Tunic with Profile Animal and Human Heads
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
126684
contentType
object
title
Tunic with Profile Animal and Human Heads
description
Wari tunics are made of two long panels folded at the shoulder line and stitched together at center and side seams, with openings left for the head and arms. The looms on which the panels were woven measured about 80 x 20 inches, with the warps spanning the short dimension. Thus, the warps are horizontal rather than vertical in the garment as it was worn. This orientation is unusual and seems to have influenced the construction of later Inca tunics. In this example, the imagery comprises two profile heads that alternate, one a human and the other an animal that may represent a deer or a bat. Such tunics were luxury goods worn only by privileged individuals.
date
c. 700–1100
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60778288
genreSpecific
Textile
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Average: 97.8 x 99.1 cm (38 1/2 x 39 in.)
cul
Peru, South Coast, Wari Culture, Middle Horizon, 8th-12th Century
accession
1949.12
Source extras
tec
tapestry weave: wool
tombstone
Tunic with Profile Animal and Human Heads, c. 700–1100. Peru, South Coast, Wari Culture, Middle Horizon, 8th-12th Century. Tapestry weave: wool; average: 97.8 x 99.1 cm (38 1/2 x 39 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of John Wise, 1949.12
collection
T - Pre-Columbian
citations
citation
Society of the Four Arts (Palm Beach, Fla.), and Gordon F. Ekholm. Pre-Columbian Art, the Native Art of America Before the Conquest: Jan. 10-Feb. 1, 1953. Palm Beach: Society of the Four Arts, 1952.
page_number
Cat. No. 4
citation
Shepherd, Dorothy. "Some Recent Acquisitions of Peruvian Textiles." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art </em>37, no. 8 (October 1950): 179-180.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 179; Reproduced: p. 187
citation
Wadsworth Atheneum, Adelyn Dohme Breeskin, and Charles Crehore Cunningham. 2000 Years of Tapestry Weaving: A Loan Exhibition : Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Dec. 7, 1951 to Jan. 27, 1952 ; the Baltimore Museum of Art, Feb. 27, 1952 to Mar. 25, 1952. Hartford, Conn: Wardsworth Atheneum], 1951.
page_number
p. 58, Cat. No. 166; plate XXIII, p. 85
creditline
Gift of John Wise
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:32:05.444000
sourceId
126684
dept
Textiles
coll
T - Pre-Columbian
med
tapestry weave: wool
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
fdc7b8af9b200ca0