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1887.1.525.1

Woollen cap, unfinished. Attached to a ball of wool [1887.1.525 .2]

On display

1887.1.525.1

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Collection type
Object
Description
Woollen cap, unfinished. Attached to a ball of wool [1887.1.525 .2]
Long description
Cap [.1] from a grave, inside which was found an unfinished cap with attached ball of wool [see .2]. [DCF Court Team 18/2/2003] Lower edge appears to have been painted with a sticky substance in black and red. LM. Information from Penny Dransart (DOC): 'Inka style (c. 1470-1535) fez-shaped cap. Coiled foundation of thick camelid fibre yarn, sewn with buttonhole stitches. Design in camelid fibre yarns in dark brown, mid brown, yellow and green, in a hook and step motif which conforms to a standard pattern in this type of cap. Flat top in mottled brown. Remains of a chin strap at the base.'
Geographical reference
Chile
Latin America and the Caribbean > South America > Chile
Arica y Parinacota Region Arica Province Arica unnamed grave site
Date / Period
Date made: 1400-1600 Date made: Circa 1470-1535 Archaeological period: Inka Inca
Date collected
By 1886
Acquisition information
Transferred: 1886
Materials and processes
Material Wool Yarn Animal, Material Camelid Wool Yarn Animal, Process Coiled, Process Basketry
Dimensions
Diameter: max 170 mm, Height: max 100 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1887.1.525.1
Research and responses

It seems probable that all of Holland's collections came to the OUMNH via George Rolleston, see Rolleston papers Ashmolean Museum GR/A/1 Holland letters [AP 26/09/2012]

Information from Penny Dransart (DOC): Unfinished Inka style (c. 1470 - 1535) fez-shaped cap and attached ball of yarn. Coiled foundation of thick camelid fibre yarn, sewn with buttonhole stitches. Hook and step design in camelid fibre yarns in dark green, blue, red, yellow and white.'

Arica is in northern Chile's Arica and Parinacota Region, located only 18 km (11 mi) south of the border with Peru. It was originally a part of Peru but it was lost after a plebiscite arranged in the Treaty of Ancon in 1883 as part of the results of the war of the Pacific. It is therefore to be considered part of Chile not Peru. [AS 14/12/2010]

Associated publications
Illustrated in black and white as figure 152 on page 143 of Basketmakers Meaning and Form in Native American Baskets, edited by Linda Mowat, Howard Morphy and Penny Dransart (Oxford: Pitt Rivers Museum, University if Oxford, Mongraph 5, 1992). Caption reads: ‘Chile, Arica. Inka style (c. 1470-1535) fez-shaped cap. Coiled foundation of thick camelid fibre yarn, sewn with buttonhole stitches. Design in camelid fibre yarns in dark brown, mid brown, yellow and green, in a hook and step motif which conforms to a standard pattern in this type of cap. Flat top in mottled brown. Remains of a chin strap at the base. H: 96 mm; dia: 165 mm (across base). Collected from a grave by Lt. S.C. Holland RN. Transferred from the University Museum, Oxford, 1887. 1887.1.525.1’ [MJD 16/01/2013]

Search terms: Clothing Headgear, Death, Textile, Religion, Basketry, Hat, Grave Good, Yarn