Headcloth

Textiles

1000/1476

Chancay
Central coast, Peru

With its delicacy of thread and complex construction, this extraordinary head cloth exemplifies Chancay gauze weaving, often considered the finest among all of the ancient Peruvian textile traditions. The repeated off-set rows of fish motifs—each outlined with softly spun cotton stitching—strongly evoke a school of fish caught within a fisherman’s net. Coastal cultures such as the Chancay embraced marine life in many forms, especially the bounty it provided as a source of food.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Textiles

Culture: Chancay
Title: Headcloth
Origin: Peru
Date: Made 1000–1476
Medium: Cotton, plain gauze weave; embroidered in knotted couching
Dimensions: 99.1 × 99.1 cm (39 × 39 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Edward H. Merrin
Reference Number: 1984.121
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/102176/manifest.json

The Art Institute of Chicago Annual Report (1983-84), 22, fig. 20).
Richard Townsend with Elizabeth Pope, Indian Art of the Americas at The Art Institute of Chicago (The Art Institute of Chicago with Yale University Press, 2016), pp. 357, cat 334.

Art Institute of Chicago, Mexican, Central, and South American Textiles: A Living Legacy, Oct. 28, 1992-Jan. 17, 1993.
Art Institute of Chicago, Department of African and Amerindian Art, Dec. 18, 2002- May 2, 2003
Art Institute of Chicago, Department of African and Amerindian Art, Gallery 136, Jan. 22-May 21, 2013.
Art Institute of Chicago, Super/Natural: Textiles of the Andes, Feb. 23-June 16, 2019, no cat.

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