Browse Items (254 total)

Feathers from the Amazonian rainforest were prized above all else, and must be included in the idea of qumpi, precious fiberwork. Bringing them over the mountains to the coast, where such fans as this one were preserved, also invokes another key…

Writing is incorporated into this contemporary cut-and-sewn dulemola made by the Guna people from the northern coast and Caribbean islands off Panamá. In the top center a version of the letters “IHS” can be seen, the monogram abbreviated from…

Several hundred of these effigy figures, completely made from fiber, remain from graves in the dry coastal sands of the Chancay Valley in central Perú. Reeds provide the basic structure, which is then dressed in miniature garments—here a skirt,…

The two fragments of this tunic from the far north coast of Perú are shown with the larger remaining portion facing out and the smaller one showing the side worn toward the wearer’s body. In other words, the whole tunic was covered with red…

It may seem odd that a textile exhibition should include several metal objects. However, this ceremonial knife with a crescent-shaped blade (known as a tumi) shows clear evidence of having been wrapped in textiles in antiquity. This…

It may seem odd that a textile exhibition should include several metal objects. However, this ceremonial knife with a crescent-shaped blade (known as a tumi) shows clear evidence of having been wrapped in textiles in antiquity. A later Inka…

It may seem odd that a textile exhibition should include several metal objects. However, these earspools with wide posts show clear evidence of having been wrapped in textiles in antiquity. An Inka tumi and Sicán tumi (ceremonial knives with…

For millennia, Andean peoples have wrapped their precious objects in cloth, from mummies (the first ones in world history), to metalwork, to other cloths. Wrapping expresses the concept of ukhu, the importance of that which is hidden. Here nineteen…