- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Slit tapestry panel. Cotton warps (Z2S) with camelid fibre wefts (Z2S) in red, browns and pinks. Large anthropomorphic figure in crested headdress. [FB 06/08/2014]
- Long description
- Slit tapestry panel. Cotton warps (Z2S) with camelid fibre wefts (Z2S) in red, browns and pinks. Large anthropomorphic figure in crested headdress. The figure is holding a trophy head in the right hand. Red background with birds. Long slits stitched up. [FB 06/08/2014]
- Geographical reference
- North or Central Coast
- Date / Period
- Date made: 1000-1476 Archaeological period: Chimu, uncertain Archaeological period: Chancay, uncertain
- Date collected
- By 1952
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 1952
- Materials and processes
- Material Camelid Wool Textile Animal, Material Cotton Seed Fibre Textile Plant, Material Pigment, Process Tapestry Woven, Process Dyed
- Dimensions
- Length: max 410 mm, Width: max 300 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1952.7.69
- Research and responses
This object was examined by George Bankes during a research visit in April 2011. According to him this item looks to be Chimu. Similar figures can be seen on Chimu pottery. What the figure holds in his right hand looks like a staff, but that is unlikely since it has a head at the end. Maybe it is some kind of rope. There are birds as well as pyramids in the background. [El.B 11/05/2011]
Notes taken during a research visit by Ann Rowe (Textile Museum Washington) March 2012:Unsure what this came from. Bold design and figures nice but not spectacular. [JN 16/05/2012]
Attribution to Late Intermediate Period by LM. This piece has characteristics of both Chimu and Chancay textiles and could be either.
Information from Ann Rowe (Curator, The Textile Museum, Washington) based on visit to see our Peru textiles in October 1997: Probably part of a tunic, Late Intermediate Period, Chimu.
- Associated publications
- Illustrated in colour as figure 25 on page 10 of Oxford and Latin America (Oxford: External Relations Office, University of Oxford, 1999). Caption (same page) reads: 'Tapestry panel, Chimu culture, Ancient Peru. Held in the Pitt Rivers Museum.' [MdeA 2/9/99; JC 27 8 2009] Illustrated in colour on page 25 of Pitt Rivers Museum: An Introduction, by Julia Cousins (Oxford: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, 2004). Caption (same page) reads: 'Tapestry fragment from Peru, thought to date to the Chimu culture, AD 1000-1476. Probably woven on a backstrap loom, it has a cotton warp and camelid-wool weft.' [JC 8 10 2004]
1952.7.69
Slit tapestry panel. Cotton warps (Z2S) with camelid fibre wefts (Z2S) in red, browns and pinks. Large anthropomorphic figure in crested headdress. [FB 06/08/2014]
1952.7.69
Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford
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