Large Piece of Pre-Colombian Textile | ||
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Posted 10 years ago
ho2cultcha
(5051 items)
i found this at Urban Ore today. I'm pretty sure that it is South American - Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, or somewhere in the Andes. I've seen similar pieces in museums. the piece is at least 19 inches x 11.5 inches and has been in this frame for at least 50 yrs. I'd love to learn more about it!
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Seems you've got good info to start with. I too, find this intriguing. Love to know the story behind them! Good luck with this.
i'm pretty sure that this is Peruvian. The figures are really interesting! are they frogs or kokopellis? then there's lots of faces too.
any guesses on what those figures represent?
beautiful!!!
thanks SEAN68! it's one of my best finds yet, i think.
i'm still trying to find out what those anthropomorphic figures are. after looking at thousands of Peruvian textile fragments, i think that this one is very special - for it's size, construction, condition and particularly for the figures. i couldn't find anything even similar. they are definitely symbolizing some kind of sea creature, but more likely people dressed as the sea creature and dancing in a rhythmic procession.
the two pics on the right are upside-down. i should fix them. I'm certain that this piece is from the Chankay culture 1000-1400 a.d. this was made w/ a slit and interlocking weave process. the border w/ the reversed trophy heads is also really interesting. i don't know if the dancers would be called anthropomorphic or zoomorphic, since they appear to be people dressed as another type of creature. maybe shrimp or squid? this was probably part of a funerary bundle. i think the darker splotches might be blood, but i'm not sure. if you ever get a chance to study Peruvian textiles, it's really a whole other world! their textiles are to them, what books and manuscripts are to us. it's the primary vector for transmitting their culture from generation to generation.
I think my friend Gonzalo Pablo from Todos Santos, Huehuetenango, Guatemala solved the riddle of these creatures. they are crabs moving in perfect rhythm w/ the tides! maybe there was even a cult of people who saw crabs as the symbol of organizational perfection! it's about respecting the natural rhythms above all.