One Half of Man's Tunic600-900

Not on view

Title: One Half of Man's Tunic
Culture: Nasca, Wari-related
Place Made: Peru, South Coast
Date Made: 600-900
Medium: Camelid fiber and cotton interlocked tapestry weave
Dimensions: 47 x 46 in. (119.38 x 116.84 cm)
Credit Line: Costume Council Fund
Accession Number: M.75.50.11
Classification: Costumes
Collecting Area: Costume and Textiles
Curatorial Notes: Crop fertility was critically important to the inhabitants of Peru’s coastline, which outside of the river valleys was primarily a desert. The droppings of seabirds (such as cormorants and pelicans) were used for fertilizer, and reverence for birds was manifested in the proliferation of avian imagery on textiles. Birds may also have been associated with the celestial flights of shamans, who, in their capacity as intermediaries between the community and the supernatural, flew in a state of trance to the world of spirits and ancestors.

Here, each block of birds in the pattern bands has been abstracted through the technique of compression. The birds’ beaks face in opposite directions, and they share a common rectangular body identified by a double curlicue. The T-shaped forms represent bird “toes” and fanlike tail feathers, as seen in representations of the winged Standard Bearer.

Nicole LaBouff via Kaye Spilker

2009

Not on view

Title: One Half of Man's Tunic
Culture: Nasca, Wari-related
Place Made: Peru, South Coast
Date Made: 600-900
Medium: Camelid fiber and cotton interlocked tapestry weave
Dimensions: 47 x 46 in. (119.38 x 116.84 cm)
Credit Line: Costume Council Fund
Accession Number: M.75.50.11
Classification: Costumes
Collecting Area: Costume and Textiles
Curatorial Notes: Crop fertility was critically important to the inhabitants of Peru’s coastline, which outside of the river valleys was primarily a desert. The droppings of seabirds (such as cormorants and pelicans) were used for fertilizer, and reverence for birds was manifested in the proliferation of avian imagery on textiles. Birds may also have been associated with the celestial flights of shamans, who, in their capacity as intermediaries between the community and the supernatural, flew in a state of trance to the world of spirits and ancestors.

Here, each block of birds in the pattern bands has been abstracted through the technique of compression. The birds’ beaks face in opposite directions, and they share a common rectangular body identified by a double curlicue. The T-shaped forms represent bird “toes” and fanlike tail feathers, as seen in representations of the winged Standard Bearer.

Nicole LaBouff via Kaye Spilker

2009