Tunic with checkerboard pattern and stepped yokeInka (Inca) ca. 1476-1534Camelid fiber, interlocked

Tunic with checkerboard pattern and stepped yokeInka (Inca) ca. 1476-1534Camelid fiber, interlocked tapestry weave and embroideryThe Inca empire—called Tahuantinsuyu, or Land of the Four Quarters—was a vast realm built by forceful expansion and organizational genius during the brief period between 1438 and 1532. From the capital city of Cuzco in the southern highlands of Peru, the empire spread along the western edge of South America to encompass present-day Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, northern Chile, and northwestern Argentina, its distant parts linked by an elaborate system of roads. In 1532, when Francisco Pizarro captured the Inca emperor Atahualpa, it was the largest state in the Western Hemisphere. The standardization of design and technical precision that distinguish Inca art can be seen in the mortarless stone masonry at Coricancha, Ollantaytambo, and Machu Picchu and in tapestry-woven textiles. Tapestry-woven cloth (qompi) often had an unusually high thread count and was so carefully made that the cloth was reversible, qualities that set it apart from contemporary European tapestry. It was woven by several types of specialists: religiously cloistered women, wives of provincial administrative officials, and a class of men who wove qompi to meet their labor tax obligations. The entire production of the male specialists went to the Inca government for redistribution, for qompi garments could be worn only if they had been received as a gift from the ruler. Of the Inca tapestry-woven garments that have survived, the most impressive is the man’s knee-length tunic, and of the four standardized tunic designs, the bold black-and-white checkerboard pattern with a stepped red yoke is the most dramatic. Sixteenth-century Spanish chroniclers described men in Atahualpa’s army as wearing tunics with a chessboard pattern, suggesting that this design had military associations.Dallas Museum of Art, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc. in honor of Carol Robbins -- source link

More pics about