Threads of Time: Tradition and Change in Indigenous American Textiles

Comb with Birds

1992_015_289_Apa_SCR.jpg

Title

Comb with Birds

Description

Tiny rows of birds adorn this very special, yet useable comb. The weaver used the tines as the warps. Unwoven tines go through the hair, but also simulate fringe on a textile. Here the colors feature the typical Chancay palette of soft golds, pinks, and red.

The high-status red dye cochineal yields the tones from brilliant scarlet to pale pink. Cochineal is a rare and permanent red dye, one that the Spanish later controlled in the world market and made a fortune almost as large as that garnered from Inka gold and silver.

Geographic Area

South America, Central Andes, Central Coast

Culture

Chancay

Date

Late Intermediate Period, ca. 1000-1470 AD

Materials

Camelid fiber, wood

Credit Line

Gift of Cora W. and Laurence C. Witten II

Accession Number

1992.15.289

Photo Credit

Photo by Michael McKelvey

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