Art Institute of Chicago

Panel

Lambayeque

Date

1000-1476

Medium

Cotton and wool (camelid), slit tapestry weave with single warp wrapping, outlining and eccentric wefts, and uncut weft loop pile

Culture

Peru

Department

Textiles

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

This vibrantly colored textile fragment displays a series of repeated designs presented in alternating rows of motifs. In one row, depictions of guanacos or vicuñas—two camelids native to the Andean highlands—appear between images of the animals’ pelts, which are shown as if splayed out and flattened. Areas of loop pile woven using a dark brown pile create dimensionality in the piece while suggesting the texture of the animal’s fleece, whose soft and warm wool was highly valued by weavers throughout South America. The other rows contain a variety of birds—likely condors or another raptor—and plants. These two motifs are often paired in Lambayeque textiles and may express sacred themes: plants typically denoted ritual hallucination and harvest rituals, while predatory birds were associated with the sky, powerful warriors, and the supernatural realm.

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