The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

Tunic fragment in a roughly diamond shape with frayed edges, a "Y"-shaped patterned section meeting with plain, splotchy cream fabric. In the upper half, remnants of diamond outlines shrink, one within the other, towards the neck in shades of red, pink, and light blue patterned with connected spiked "s" shapes. A square below makes this "V" looks like a "Y," two geometric, spiked swirls of creatures face each other within, one pink and one yellow.

Tapestry-woven Yoke from a Tunic

800–1200?

Central Andes, North Central Coast, Moche-Wari Style

camelid fiber and cotton, tapestry weave
Overall: 64.8 x 102.8 cm (25 1/2 x 40 1/2 in.); Mounted: 69.2 x 108 cm (27 1/4 x 42 1/2 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1925.667
Location: 232 Andean

Description

This fragment comes from the upper area of a tunic, with thick embroidery defining remnants of the neck opening. In the rectangular area on the chest are two similar long-tailed creatures rendered in a highly geometric style. Each is rotated 90 degrees, so their tails are parallel to the bottom edge. The cloven hooves on their upper legs may identify the creatures as deer or Andean camelids, such as llamas or alpacas.
  • ?-1925
    Walter C. Wyman, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1925-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Ancient Andean Textiles. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 14, 2024-December 14, 2025).
    Gallery 232- Andean Textile Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 28, 2018-August 26, 2019).
    Andean Gallery 107 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 29, 2004-April 12, 2005).
    Gallery 107 textile rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 29, 2004-April 12, 2005).
    Ancient Peruvian Textiles. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, (March 5-April 6, 1941).
  • {{cite web|title=Tapestry-woven Yoke from a Tunic|url=false|author=|year=800–1200?|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1925.667