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Source Description
This example shows the full conceptual sophistication of Wari textiles, which were in some ways like Cubist paintings, employing techniques in weaving of expansion, compression, rotation and transformation of forms. In this panel from a tunic, for example, what appears at first to be an almost totally abstract weaving is revealed, with careful looking, as two figures, arranged vertically. The two are based on gods with staffs shown in profile, such as those from relief sculptures at Tiwanaku, whose belief system they seem to have shared. At the top of the panel, a figure in red with a rectangular and stylized head faces left, with a hand on the left side wrapped around a staff which ends at the bottom in a puma head. Below this, a second figure, facing right, with stylized head thrown back, surmounted by a headdress which includes two condor heads. In this figure, the emphasis is on his rainment at the left of his body, with an outstretched arm at top, puma head and feathers at a belt or waist ornament, and another puma head by the figure’s foot. These figures are initially so difficult to see because the Wari weaver simplified, exaggerated, compressed or expanded, and turned 90 or 180 degrees portions of the figure. As a piece actually meant to be worn, this panel would have been part of a tunic that itself fluttered and moved with the weaver.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
85456
label
Tunic Panel
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
2
Source metadata
id
85456
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Tunic Panel
description
This example shows the full conceptual sophistication of Wari textiles, which were in some ways like Cubist paintings, employing techniques in weaving of expansion, compression, rotation and transformation of forms. In this panel from a tunic, for example, what appears at first to be an almost totally abstract weaving is revealed, with careful looking, as two figures, arranged vertically. The two are based on gods with staffs shown in profile, such as those from relief sculptures at Tiwanaku, whose belief system they seem to have shared. At the top of the panel, a figure in red with a rectangular and stylized head faces left, with a hand on the left side wrapped around a staff which ends at the bottom in a puma head. Below this, a second figure, facing right, with stylized head thrown back, surmounted by a headdress which includes two condor heads. In this figure, the emphasis is on his rainment at the left of his body, with an outstretched arm at top, puma head and feathers at a belt or waist ornament, and another puma head by the figure’s foot. These figures are initially so difficult to see because the Wari weaver simplified, exaggerated, compressed or expanded, and turned 90 or 180 degrees portions of the figure. As a piece actually meant to be worn, this panel would have been part of a tunic that itself fluttered and moved with the weaver.
provenance
Purchased by Georgia de Havenon, New York; given to Walters Art Museum, 2016.
date
600-900 CE
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
panels (costume components)
imageCount
2
pageCount
2
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
30.5
height
14
dimensionsRaw
H: 12 × W: 5 1/2 in. (30.5 × 14 cm)Mount: H: 15 13/16 × W: 9 1/8 × D: 1 15/16 in. (40.2 × 23.2 × 5 cm)
Source extras
cul
Huari (Wari)
med
camelid fibers
creator_ids
31448
collection_ids
AME
exhibition_ids
2988
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
7263c7b2658b1000
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
35b3bf4503264ace
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no