FIG. 8 (left):
Anthropomorphic vessel
showing a woman holding a
man’s tunic. Moche, North
Coast, Peru. AD 100–600.
Terracotta. H: 18 cm.
Linden-Museum Stuttgart, inv. 69061.
© Linden-Museum Stuttgart.
Photo: A. Dreyer.
FIG. 9 (lower left):
Anthropomorphic vessel
depicting a warrior. Moche,
North Coast, Peru.
AD 100–600.
Terracotta. H: 21 cm.
Musée Royal d’Art et d’Histoire,
Brussels, inv. AAM 39.28.
© KMKG-MRAH.
which they correspond (figs. 8 and 9) and representations
of Inca individuals produced by early
explorers. The marvelous manuscript produced
between 1535 and 1615 by indigenous Peruvian
chronicler Guamán Poma de Ayala is among the
most noteworthy of these, and it is a gold mine of
firsthand information on textiles and the manner in
which the Inca emperors were clothed (fig. 7). The
immediacy of these drawings is as striking as their
authenticity and accuracy.5
Women were primarily responsible for the creation
of textiles in the Andes. Among the Inca, they
were woven by the acclas, or “chosen women,”
selected from among peoples all over the empire,
who were housed in special workshops specialized
in spinning, weaving, and stitching to standards
that could meet the expectations of royalty. These
weavers were extremely well qualified and specialized
craftspeople who maintained a high level of
excellence in their work. Some of their textiles have
more than eighty threads per centimeter.
Although apparel traditions developed in specific
ways in every region, they have many features in
91
up in fetal position and wrapped in multiple layers
of textiles lashed in place with cordage, and reproduction
heads or masks in wood, ceramic, or even
textile are positioned on top. It should be noted
that the Inca mummies did not result from the
special treatment or embalming of bodies as did
the Egyptian ones but came to exist due to the natural
climatic conditions of coastal Peru. The funerary
bundles were accompanied by a heterogeneous
group of objects and offerings, textiles among
them. Excavations have revealed that entire ensembles
of textiles and clothing often were placed in
these tombs, further demonstrating the important
role they played in society and in eschatological beliefs.
A garment was an emblem of identity, wealth,
and social inclusion. It is said that among the Inca,
it was even a diplomatic instrument: Certain codes
determined who could wear what.4
Apart from the textiles themselves, two other
sources are informative about Andean clothing traditions:
representations from the period, especially
those seen on figural ceramics (fig. 1) that reveal
as much about apparel as about the social role to
ANDEAN TEXTILES
FACING PAGE
FIG. 5 (upper left): Tunic,
unku. Inca, Peru.
AD 1450–1532.
Cotton, camelid wool.
90.5 x 78 cm.
Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques
Chirac, inv. 71.1911.21.448.
© Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques
Chirac, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais/
Patrick Gries/Valérie Torre.
FIG. 6 (lower left): Feather
tunic, unku. Inca, Peru.
AD 1450–1532.
Cotton, feathers. 70 x 65 cm.
Linden-Museum Stuttgart, inv.
119195.
© Linden-Museum Stuttgart.
Photo: A. Dreyer.
FIG. 7 (middle right):
“Segvndo inga, cinche roca
inga,” from Guamán Poma
de Ayala, Nueva corónica y
buen gobierno, Mexico,
c. 1615.
© Det kongelige bibliotek – The Royal
Library.