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Source Description

Huari (or Wari) tunics are some of the most complex textiles produced in the ancient Americas. They are usually conceived on a grid pattern, with vertical rows of squares separated from each other by thin borders. Images within those borders are very geometric, sometimes to the point of being nearly illegible. This is acomplex Huari piece, executed in a range of reds, pinks, tans, with portions of blue. Its alternating squares are similar to later Inca tocapu patterns. In this example, squares that are diagonally divided with a stylized human head at bottom right and abstract step fret at top right, alternate with those showing the “Andean cross” pattern. To change the visual “rhythm” of this patterning, long red rectangles ran across the right side of this panel. The damage to part of the right side of the textile may be due to its having been in contact with a mummy bundle or other perishable substance in a tomb. While shown horizontally here, this panel was probably originally oriented vertically on a tunic.

Scholar Source Context

Document identity
localId
85457
label
Tunic Panel
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
3
Source metadata
id
85457
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Tunic Panel
description
Huari (or Wari) tunics are some of the most complex textiles produced in the ancient Americas. They are usually conceived on a grid pattern, with vertical rows of squares separated from each other by thin borders. Images within those borders are very geometric, sometimes to the point of being nearly illegible. This is acomplex Huari piece, executed in a range of reds, pinks, tans, with portions of blue. Its alternating squares are similar to later Inca tocapu patterns. In this example, squares that are diagonally divided with a stylized human head at bottom right and abstract step fret at top right, alternate with those showing the “Andean cross” pattern. To change the visual “rhythm” of this patterning, long red rectangles ran across the right side of this panel. The damage to part of the right side of the textile may be due to its having been in contact with a mummy bundle or other perishable substance in a tomb. While shown horizontally here, this panel was probably originally oriented vertically on a tunic.
provenance
Purchased by Georgia de Havenon, New York; given to Walters Art Museum, 2016.
date
600-900 CE
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
panels (costume components)
imageCount
3
pageCount
3
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
101.6
height
50.8
dimensionsRaw
H: 40 x L: 20 in. (101.6 x 50.8 cm)
Source extras
cul
Huari
med
camelid fibers
creator_ids
31448
collection_ids
AME
exhibition_ids
2988
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
0580ba1b87448620
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
e20ec7141b2cedbd
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
3
type
photo
mediaId
5b183aa0d9f1712f
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no