This tiny bit of a very fine tapestry is all that is left from a Tiwanaku-style textile dating to around 600 AD. It features a human arm and hand grasping some kind of a staff, facing right. It was once connected to a very complex body with wings and…
A fragment of a Wari tapestry tunic was originally along the side seam of a four-foot square garment. However, even this small fragment illustrates several important concepts and aesthetic choices made over 1300 years ago in the Andes. The…
Every motif in this border fragment is either interlocked with another version of itself or is shaped so that it could be, which epitomizes the concept of interlockedness or reciprocity, ayni. Starting from the top are a band of curling snakes, their…
Tinku, the way that two things can come together to produce a third, is a key Quechua concept. While the rows of tiny woven monkey motifs on the piece at left, barely an inch tall each, are very charming and impressive, they are out of place…
Throughout history imitation has been seen as “the sincerest form of praise” and the ancient Andes is no exception. Here featherwork is imitated in woven textiles, tapestry in particular. In this tiny piece, the quills are delineated, the ends come…
