Threads of Time: Tradition and Change in Indigenous American Textiles
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Lliklla (Woman’s Mantle) with Guitar and Olive Branch Motifs
Among the various detailed patterns in this woman’s shoulder mantle are three sideways guitar motifs (in the patterned stripe above the shawl’s center seam). Introduced by the Spanish, guitars are now also associated with Latin American music. The…
Lliklla (Woman’s Mantle) with Indigo and Red
This 20th century lliklla, shoulder mantle in Quechua, embodies the long-held Andean concept of ayni or dual parts in an almost-equal relationship. First, blue paired with bright red is a typical Andean choice; the two highest-status colors are cool…
Tzut (Head Cloth) with “Recuerdo de Albina Semet" Jaspé (Tie-Dyed Threads)
As weavers learn from their elders, practice, and become highly skilled, some of the most proficient are able to tie-dye threads so that they spell words, people’s or place’s names, and sometimes even phrases. These are perhaps the most prestigious…
Ceremonial Huipíl (Blouse) with Cuyuscate (Natural Brown Cotton)
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…
Ceremonial Huipíl (Blouse) with Long Brocaded Center Panel
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.…
Doublecloth Fragments with Llamas and Herders
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…
19th Century-Revival Iscayo (Woman’s Mantle)
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…
