Cleveland Museum of Art

Band with Trophy Heads

Date

100 BCE–700 CE

Medium

interlocking warp and weft, single interlock: wool

Culture

Peru, South Coast, Nasca

Department

Textiles

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This band, remarkable for its intense color and spider-web sheerness, was created using an unusual technique known as discontinuous warp and weft. That is, none of the vertical or horizontal yarns are continuous from one side of the band to the other. Rather, they travel back and forth within their own color areas, linking at the edges with yarns in adjacent areas. This is a difficult feat when weaving on a loom and the creator likely used another approach, such as darning with a needle over a ground cloth that was then removed. The image repeated in each of the band’s rectangles is a head supported on two little feet. This band is made in with a weaving technique that is unique to the ancient Andes.

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