<p>Although this headcloth looks like a gauze from afar, it is actually a much simpler plain weave. Rather than invest time in weaving the sheer fabric, its maker focused on creating its circular patterns by tying off small sections of the cotton cloth and dyeing it. The technique is similar to making a modern tie-dyed T-shirt but executed at a much smaller scale. Chancay weavers on the coast likely inherited this technique from their ancestors in the Andean highlands, weavers of the Wari Empire, who created elaborately tie-dyed, alpaca-fiber tunics in much brighter colors.</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1000
- Dimensions
- 96.5 × 101.6 cm (38 × 40 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Artist
- Chancay
Artist
Textile
Possibly Chancay
Full artist profile →More
More by Chancay
Dolls
1950 · Contemporary assemblage of materials from a variety of past cultures. Cotton, variety of eaves, embroidered with cotton and wool in tunning and satin stitches; couching; cotton wrapped twigs
Jar with Textile-Like Pattern and Handle in Form of an Animal
1000 · Ceramic and pigment
Border Fragment
1000 · Cotton and wool (camelid), bands of plain weave, slit tapestry weave with wrapping outlining wefts, and three-color complementary weft weave; edged with plain weave extended weft loop fringe
Tunic shoulder fragment
1000 · Cotton and wool (camelid), slit and single dovetail tapestry weave; edged with weft-faced plain weave with extended weft cut fringe
Fragments
1000 · Cotton and camelid wool; plain weave edged in slit tapestry weave with eccentric wefts
Fragment
1000 · Cotton, plain weave and cotton and wool (camelid), slit tapestry weave with eccentric and wrapping outlining wefts; slit tapestry tab fringe
Record
Verified by WattsOSSource
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified