Browse Items (254 total)

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.…

Finely woven cloths covered altars in Catholic churches in Maya territory, and this example with ancient Maya animal motifs highlights the ever-present syncretism (overlap) between the two religious systems. The vibrant purple was likely achieved by…

Indigo dye and the vivid colors of blue-to-green that it produces have been privileged through much of the Andean textile tradition. Many ancient Andean pieces attest to the long-term mastery of natural indigo dyeing (see examples of indigo in…

The principle of ayni—reciprocity, dualism, interlockedness— is consummately expressed in cloth such as this, a doublecloth dating to ca. 1000–1470 AD. Its patterns play out in indigo and white, a dualistic color choice, and in the plain-weave…

This huipíl is exemplary of early 20th century style blouses made in Chichicastenango. The sun pattern is actually sewn on by the weaver’s husband, as the sun is considered the masculine spiritual force. The black fabric circles represent the moon.…

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…