https://emuseum.cornell.edu/internal/media/dispatcher/71476/fullTextile border fragmentAD 1000-1470[]Camelid wool on paired cotton weftThis Chimu warp-faced tapestry border fragment depicts a row of 5 birds woven in shades of gold and brown on a faded red panel bordered on both the top and bottom by a series of abstract step-fret motifs orignally done in black on gold. Much of the black thread has been lost, leaving the wefts exposed. The bottom of the panel is bordered in a slit-woven tapestry "fringe," with each fringe edge having a selvedge or finished edge to prevent raveling. The top of this textile shows evidence of having been cut from a larger garment, probably a tunic; this piece would have originally been one section of the bottom border. The colors of this piece are now faded but were probably once the vivid red of cochineal dyes, which is derived from insects living on cactus plants, coupled with some of the vegetable-derived gold colors which are made from a variety of plants found on the Peruvian coast. Wearing red and gold colors during Inca times was restricted to high-status individuals, although we cannot be certain that such sumptuary laws extended back into the pre-Inca past. Bird motifs were common along the coast of Peru, and this textile is consistent with that decorative tradition. ___________ Pre-Columbian Textiles The pre-Columbian textile traditions were the culmination of many hundreds of years of development, and were extremely technologically sophisticated. Along the coast of Peru, native cotton, Gossypium barbadense, was often incorporated into weavings, while in the highlands, fibers from the domesticated llama and alpaca (Lama glama and Lama pacos) and from the wild vicuna (Vicugna vicugna) were all spun and used in textiles. The finest, softest cloths were woven of pure vicuna wool, while domesticated llamas yielded the coarsest hairs and textiles and alpacas produced fiber of intermediate quality and softness. Wearing red and gold colors during Inca times was restricted to high-status individuals, although we cannot be certain that such sumptuary laws extended back into the pre-Inca past. It appears that specific uniforms for the military (warriors) were common in Inca times, and likely from at least Wari times onwards. Other kinds of special-use clothing were also standardized, with Wari bureaucrats or officials wearing distinctive tunics unlike those of the common people. The designs found on fabrics include elements from nature as well as the supernatural or mystical world, with intricate, abstract geometrics and interlocking tessellations which appear to be one thing, such as a series of birds, when viewed from one direction, and another, such as cat faces, when viewed from the opposite direction. Bird and fish motifs were common along the coast of Peru. Fibers were spun either "Z-twist" or "S-twist," terms referring to the directionality of twisting (clockwise or counterclockwise). The patterning in twist direction, coupled with numbers of fibers woven in each direction (the warp and the weft) offer clues to help us date textiles and to determine their geographic origin. Most pre-Columbian weaves were warp-faced, with coastal textiles usually having an invisible cotton weft understructure. Camelid fibers were preferred for the visible warp threads, since wools of all types take dye better than do cottons, and resist fading better, producing a more vividly-colored garment. Textile colors Native cotton, Gossypium barbadense, comes in several earth-tone colors ranging from creamy white to brown, as do the different kinds of camelid wools. All of these fibers were used in a variety of natural tones, but many were also dyed with a variety of natural dyestuffs to produce the glowing colors found in pre-Columbian textiles. Bright red dyes came from the cochineal insect, (Dactylopius coccus), which live on prickly-pear cactus or "tuna" (Opuntia ficus-indica) plants, while yellow colors came from a wide range of plants including pepper tree (Schinus molle) seeds. Blues were obtained from indigo (Indigofera suffruticosa). Farther north, in Ecuador and in Mesoamerica, purple dyes were obtained from several species of shellfish (Purpura spp., Thais melones, or T. kiosquiformis). ref :Karen Stothert 2005: "Shellfish Purple in Coastal Ecuador," Textile Museum Journal 2003-2004, pp.98-107. Suggestions for Further Reading about Andean Textiles: Berenguer R., Jose (2000): Awakhuni: Tejiendo la Historia Andina. Museo Precolombino: Santiago. (text in Spanish) Brugnoli Bailoni, Paulina, and Soledad Hoces de la Guardia (1995): Two options for achieving a visual image in Precolumbian textile art. In Andean Art: Visual Expression and its relation to Andean Beliefs and Values, edited by Penny Dransart. Worldwide Archaeology Series, Avebury: Aldershot, pp. 193-227. Commentary by weavers about how forming motifs using different methods may be related to intended meanings. Cornejo B., Luis E. and Carole Sinclaire A. (Eds.) (2005): Chimú: Laberintos de un Traje Sagrado/Labyrinths of a Sacred Costume, Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino : Santiago. Text in both Spanish and English; excellent review of Chimú textiles. Doyon-Bernard, S.J. (1990): "From twining to triple cloth: experimentation and innovation in ancient Peruvian weaving (ca. 5000-400 BC)," in American Antiquity 55(1): 68-87. Feltham, Jane (1989): Peruvian Textiles. Shire Ethnography: Aylesbury. An excellent, short (circa 70-pages total) overview of techniques, materials, and the history of textiles in Peru, written for the non-specialist but with information useful to anyone. Peters, Ann H. (1991): "Ecology and Society in Embroidered Images from the Paracas Necrópolis," in Paracas Art and Architecture: Object and Context in South Coastal Peru, Edited by Anne Paul. University of Iowa Press: Iowa City. Frank discussion of the difficulty in identifying decorative elements in pre-Columbian textiles, with extensive illustrations of many plants and animals purported to be portrayed in Paracas and Nasca pottery and textiles. Reid, James W. (1986): Textile Masterpieces of Ancient Peru. Dover: New York. Short reference, well-illustrated in color. Also has illustrations of featherwork. Rodman, Amy Oakland and Vicki Cassman (1995): "Andean tapestry: structure informs the surface," in Art Journal 54(2): 33-39. Chimú (AD 900-1470) The Chimú Empire, or Kingdom of Chimor, was established in the Tenth Century in the Moche Valley on the north coast of present-day Peru. By 1400 AD, the Chimú ruled an empire 800 miles long, encompassing the fertile, agriculturally productive irrigated coastal valleys stretching from Tumbez to Chillón. The imperial capital of Chan Chan, located near the modern city of Trujillo, covered 20 square kilometers, housed a population of 50,000 to 100,000 people, and included pyramids, residences, markets, workshops, reservoirs, storehouses, gardens, and cemeteries. Chimú architecture is made of adobe decorated with geometrically patterned mosaics or molded bas-reliefs of stylized animals, birds, and mythological figures. Chimú artisans used similar decorative elements in their pottery, metal ornaments, and finely detailed textiles, many of which are embellished with ornate featherwork. Chimú pottery was mass-produced in molds by craft specialists and is typically highly burnished blackware, with a wide variety of decorative motifs including birds, fish, animals, fruits and vegetables, and people. The most common shape was the stirrup-spout bottle, which often has a small monkey figure located on the spout. After the Inca conquest of Chimor in 1470, during the reign of Pachacutec Inca Yupanqui, Chimú vessels tend to have broad, flaring spouts similar to those on Inca aryballoid jars. Chimú-Inca vessels often have shapes similar to the Inca aryballos or urpu, but are made of typically Chimú blackware and are decorated in characteristically Chimú style. com.gallerysystems.emuseum.core.entities.Classification@68https://emuseum.cornell.edu/objects/8474/rdf