The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Woven abstracted depiction of a fish in profile with a geometric outline and an open mouth, outline of a black eye, and central spinal bone woven in white. Geometric white, cream, light-brown, and yellow-brown shapes fill in the surrounding fish details against a medium-brown background. The fish and fin details are outlined in muted yellow.

Fish-Shaped Applique

1400–1532

Central Andes, Central Coast, Ychsma people

(Pachacamac)
cotton and camelid fiber, tapestry weave with areas of eccentric weft floats
Overall: 26 x 56.5 cm (10 1/4 x 22 1/4 in.); Mounted: 32.4 x 62.9 cm (12 3/4 x 24 3/4 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1933.392
Location: 232 Andean

Description

This fish-shaped textile was originally stitched with others like it to a mantle, a shawl-like garment that was a staple of Andean clothing. Its partial “X-ray view,” which emphasizes the bony spine, is unique to the style of the Ychsma (yeach-mah), who lived on Peru’s central coast. In addition to referencing sources of food, marine subjects may also carry religious associations, as some coastal peoples of the period regarded the sea as a deity.
  • Wadsworth Atheneum, Adelyn Dohme Breeskin, and Charles Crehore Cunningham. 2000 Years of Tapestry Weaving: A Loan Exhibition : Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Dec. 7, 1951 to Jan. 27, 1952 ; the Baltimore Museum of Art, Feb. 27, 1952 to Mar. 25, 1952. Hartford, Conn: Wardsworth Atheneum], 1951. Cat. No. 168, p. 58
  • 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).
    Fiberworks: Tradition and Technique. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 5-November 11, 1977).
    Treasures of Peruvian Gold. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 23-April 3, 1966).
    Treasures of Peruvian Gold. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 23-April 3, 1966).
    2000 Years of Tapestry Weaving. Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT (December 7, 1951- January 2, 1952); Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD (February 27-March 25, 1952).
    Art of the Americas. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 9, 1945-January 6, 1946).
  • {{cite web|title=Fish-Shaped Applique|url=false|author=|year=1400–1532|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1933.392