Art Institute of Chicago

Half of a Tabard

Chimú, Ica, or Chincha (“Provincial Inca”?)

Date

1400-1532

Medium

Cotton, plain weave, with double warps and single wefts; embellished with feathers (likely from great or snowy egrets, Muscovy ducks,Chilean flamigos, and macaws) knotted and attached with cotton in back stitches

Culture

Peru

Department

Textiles

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

This man’s garment was woven like a Chimú textile made on the north coast of Peru, but its feline motifs are similar to those created by Ica or Chincha artists of the south coast. It may have been produced when these cultures were subjugated by the Inca Empire. Unfortunately, few similar brown-and-white feathered tunics are currently known, making comparative studies difficult. The Art Institute of Chicago stewards this one as well as a second example, and the Linden Museum in Stuttgart preserves a third. All three were collected around 1900 by a German doctor living in Lima named Eduard Gaffron.

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