Collection Online as of June 3, 2023

Mantle or Hanging

1480–1635 (radiocarbon date, 95.4% probability)

Part of a set. See all set records

Peru, North Coast, Chimú style, 1200-1460s

Cotton; plain weave, brocaded and complex alternating gauze with 3 or 5 shots of plain weave between gauze shots

Overall: 162.5 x 272 cm (64 x 107 1/16 in.); Mounted: 177.8 x 287 cm (70 x 113 in.)

Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund 2005.5.1

Location

232 Andean

Fun Fact

The Chimú forged an empire that thrived until the 1460s, when the Inka incorporated it into their own imperial domain.

Description

This garment embodies an important principle of the Chimú textile aesthetic: a love of combining different textures, some dense and sculptural and others so open and airy they are nearly invisible. (The hand-spun yarns are only .1 to .2 millimeters in diameter.) It also elegantly articulates the simplified, spare visual vocabulary that the Chimú favored, here geometric motifs.

Citations

Rowe, Ann Pollard, and John P. O'Neill. Costumes & featherwork of the Lords of Chimor: textiles from Peru's north coast. 1984.

Exhibition history

The Ancient Americas- Art From Sacred Landscapes, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, (October 10, 1992- January 3, 1993); The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, (February- April 18, 1993); The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, (June 6- August 15, 1993).

Gallery 232- Andean Textile Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27, 2014-July 27, 2015).

Ancient Andean Textiles (Gallery 232 rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (December 9, 2022-December 3, 2023).