Carrying Cloth or Shawl500-700

On view:

Geffen Galleries, Textiles of the Andes

Title: Carrying Cloth or Shawl
Culture: Nasca, Wari-related
Place Made: Peru, South Coast
Date Made: 500-700
Medium: Camelid fiber and cotton plain weave with supplementary weft patterning, borders of complementary weft weave and weft-faced plain weave.
Dimensions: 42 × 42 in. (106.68 × 106.68 cm)
Credit Line: Costume Council Fund
Accession Number: M.75.50.13
Classification: Textiles
Collecting Area: Costume and Textiles
Curatorial Notes: The function of these distinctive cloths with corner patterns has not been fully determined. Diagonal marks across the center suggest that they were folded and worn by women as shawls; however, some have a definite bulge in the middle, which suggests that the textiles served as carrying cloths. Although there is consistency in format and materials in this type of cloth, the complexity of decoration varies considerably.

Cloths with fewer motifs or imagery may have been woven outside of the primary Wari sphere of influence, or may have been earlier versions of what became the standard. A cloth with minimal geometric pattern may also have served as a secular variation of the ceremonial model.

Nicole LaBouff via Kaye Spilker

2009

On view:

Geffen Galleries, Textiles of the Andes

Title: Carrying Cloth or Shawl
Culture: Nasca, Wari-related
Place Made: Peru, South Coast
Date Made: 500-700
Medium: Camelid fiber and cotton plain weave with supplementary weft patterning, borders of complementary weft weave and weft-faced plain weave.
Dimensions: 42 × 42 in. (106.68 × 106.68 cm)
Credit Line: Costume Council Fund
Accession Number: M.75.50.13
Classification: Textiles
Collecting Area: Costume and Textiles
Curatorial Notes: The function of these distinctive cloths with corner patterns has not been fully determined. Diagonal marks across the center suggest that they were folded and worn by women as shawls; however, some have a definite bulge in the middle, which suggests that the textiles served as carrying cloths. Although there is consistency in format and materials in this type of cloth, the complexity of decoration varies considerably.

Cloths with fewer motifs or imagery may have been woven outside of the primary Wari sphere of influence, or may have been earlier versions of what became the standard. A cloth with minimal geometric pattern may also have served as a secular variation of the ceremonial model.

Nicole LaBouff via Kaye Spilker

2009