$300.00
Shipping calculated at checkout.
ca. 600 - 800 AD
.75" H x 9” L x 4.5” W
Hand Woven Decorative Textile with Woven in Yellow, Green, and Deep Red with a Long Deep Red Fringe
In Good Condition
Wari culture flourished between 600 and 1000 CE, with its textile art reaching a peak between 600 and 800 CE. These textiles, among the finest in pre-Columbian America, were highly sophisticated, often made using interlocked tapestry weaving with cotton warp and camelid wool weft. Wari tunics and mantles featured abstract, geometric designs, including stepped diamond motifs and winged feline figures (often with bird wings and human arms), sometimes distorted or compressed to the point of abstraction—possibly to symbolize shamanic transformation or elite control over meaning.
Key characteristics of Wari textiles from this period include:
High thread counts, reflecting exceptional craftsmanship.
Vivid colors, especially magenta (from cochineal dye), blue, yellow, and green, with deliberate use of indigo or green as subtle, possibly symbolic, deviations from patterns.
Standardized designs suggesting imperial oversight in production, similar to later Inca practices.
Ritual significance: Textiles were used in elite burials, often buried with the dead in dry desert regions, where they survived exceptionally well—evidenced by finds at Huari and Monjachayoq.
Notable examples include a tunic in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (ca. 600–850 CE) with 16 repeated, distorted winged feline figures, and feather panels from the South Coast, made from macaw feathers arranged in abstract patterns possibly representing landscapes. These textiles were not merely decorative but served as status symbols, religious icons, and tools of imperial authority, spreading Wari culture across the Andes through trade and administrative centers like Pikillacta and Pachacamac.
Condition:
Good
Tribe:
Pre Columbian
Year Range:
Prehistoric / Pre Columbian AD 400-1500
Region:
Mexico - Central and South America
Dimensions:
0.75 in9 in4.5 in
