Textile Fragment with Interlocking Snakes

Though this is only a small portion of the original composition, even in this fragmentary state the amount of thread that floats over the surface of the ground cloth is amazing. The cloth is the greenish brown that is now functioning only as the outlining of the interlocked snake figures in red and yellow. This is a technique known as brocade, a way of weaving an over-under fabric while introducing extra or “supplementary” threads to make a pattern on top. It is a technique found the world over, but usually the patterning is sparse and the ground cloth shows through it. Labor intensity was a common practice in the ancient Andes; efficiency was a foreign concept.

The snakes consist of triangular heads with two round eyes and an open mouth, plus a zigzag bodies that turn around their neighbors. Each one is the exact same form, but interlocked and varied in color. This embodies the Quechua concept of ayni, all that is complementary, interlocked, reciprocal, and balanced in its duality. In the Andes, this principle allows people to survive in the many ecological zones, each with limited resources; via trade and mutual service all can prosper, without it none can live. The modern country of Perú has more ecological zones within its borders than anywhere else in the world.