Slide 1
An Andean tunic could communicate identity and status
Andean tunics could communicate identity and status through their materials and designs. A garment was also a prominent public surface.
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The tradition spans different societies and many centuries. Wari, Chimu and Inka tunics should therefore be compared as distinct historical works rather than treated as one uniform style.
Slide 2
Two woven panels form the Met’s Wari tunic
A Wari tunic in the Met consists of two woven panels joined with an opening for the head. Its construction produces a sleeveless garment.
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The opening is part of the assembly rather than a separate decorative motif. Reading the object requires distinguishing structural features from the pattern woven across its surface.
Slide 3
Strong abstraction can make the original motifs hard to recognize
Wari tunic designs can abstract their motifs strongly. A present-day viewer may find it difficult to recognise the forms that underlie the pattern.
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Visual resemblance to modern abstract art does not establish a shared intention. The textile belongs to Andean systems of making and meaning that require their own context.
Slide 4
Working boundaries preserve traces of weaving
Close examination of a textile can reveal where a weaver completed small sections. The Met identifies such working boundaries in a Wari tunic.
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Those traces help reconstruct production within a surface that first appears continuous. The finished garment preserves evidence of labour as well as the intended design.
Slide 5
Fine Inka tunics could be wealth as well as clothing
Colonial accounts describe fine Inka tunics as markers of rank and valued goods. Their importance extended beyond keeping a wearer covered.
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They could be stored as wealth or given in diplomatic exchanges. A textile's political role therefore included movement between people as well as display on a body.
Sources
- The Andean Tunic, 400 BCE–1800 CE
Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Wari Tunic
Metropolitan Museum of Art