Browse Items (254 total)

This Guna blouse panel takes on a Christian subject: the Madonna and Child. She is identified by her cross necklace, which is embroidered like her intricate veil and the patterns on her clothes. The use of embroidery began in the late 20th and early…

Like other panels that take on “global” themes but give them definite Guna twists (see examples here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here), especially related to Christianity, the very recent example at left juxtaposes tropical flowers and…

Commercial products, such as the Trix™ cereal rabbit mascot which debuted in 1959, have crept into contemporary dulemola creativity. The icon of this sugary children’s cereal was a trickster figure always trying to steal the cereal from children and…

Pure whimsy and lighthearted humor characterize some contemporary dulemolaguna, such as this one featuring two dogs wearing sunglasses and perhaps carrying purses. The tropical flower between them and the lozenge-shaped cutouts in the background are…

Due to the dry climate of the ancient Andes, thousands upon thousands of textiles were preserved from antiquity, as well as weaving and spinning tools and balls of yarn, often accompanying the deceased. Both elaborating these tools and then burying…

This belt dates from between 1000 and 1450 AD. It represents continuity within the long tradition of finely woven belts made in warp-face techniques. It is similar, but not identical, to the complementary techniques used in the 20th and 21st century.…

The Aymara people who inhabit the regions around Lake Titicaca in Bolivia and Perú have been noted for their masterful use of color since they were incorporated into the Inka Empire during the 1400s. Newer techniques, such as k’isa, developed in the…

A more recent blouse panel combines the long-practiced technique of cut, folded, and sewn patterning with actual appliqué, the sewing of additional shapes on top. The lozenge shapes are made in the traditional way, cutting through and folding back to…

This blouse, woven in the 1920s, ranks as the finest Maya textile in the Carlos collection, with its expanse of the natural brown cotton, the darker shade known as cuyuscate and the slightly lighter one ixcaco. Its deep purple-maroon-pink brocading…