Tunic with Profile Animals and Checkerboards

410–540 CE (radiocarbon date, 93% probability)

Peru, South Coast, Paracas or Nasca?

Medium

cotton; dye-patterned plain weave

Measurements

Overall: 72.4 x 104.1 cm (28 1/2 x 41 in.)

Credit Line

Dudley P. Allen Fund 2005.16

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Location

Not on view

Description

The imagery in the central field of this unique tunic—animals with long tails and three-toed feet—seems to have been created by painting a slurry-like material on the pale areas to protect them when the fabric was immersed in a bath that turned other areas light brown. Then the slurry was removed, revealing the pattern. The checkerboard areas at the sides, on the other hand, are woven with brown and cream-colored yarns. Specialists puzzle over the origins of the tunic, some attributing it to the Paracas (700 BCE–1 CE) and others to the Nasca (100 BCE–650 CE), who sprang from Paracas roots.