unknown Inca
Primary

Carrying Cloth with Geometric Design

Late Horizon
1450 - 1534

21 1/4 x 16 1/8 x 1/16 in. (54 x 41 x 0.2 cm)

This object has the following keywords:

• braiding - Technique in which strands of pliable material, often three or four strands, are intertwined so as to form a plait, band, or rope. An example is in textile work, where flat over-and-under oblique interlacing is achieved using the undifferentiated elements of a single set of strands, characterized by the oblique crossings of the elements and their common directional trend. Other examples include in the making of leather items, basketmaking, and in styling of hair.
• Inca - Pre-Columbian culture of the Central Andean area of South America; the early Inca people are recognizable in the archaeological record of the Late Intermediate Period (ca. 1000-1476 CE), from the 12th century onwards. The Inca established their capital at Cuzco (Peru) in the 12th century. They began their conquests in the early 15th century and within 100 years had gained control of an Andean population of about 12,000,000 people. The The Inca empire flourished in the 15th century and early 16th century. At the time of the Spanish conquest in 1532, the Inca ruled an empire that extended along the Pacific coast and Andean highlands from the northern border of modern Ecuador to the Maule River in central Chile. Inca ceramics are readily recognizable from their forms and decoration; bronze metal tools and weapons were widespread, and there was a distinctive Inca architecture at various locations throughout the empire. For the culture and artifacts dating to the empire during the period 1476-1534 CE, use "Late Horizon."
• Late Horizon - The seventh of the seven main chronological phases recognized in Andean archaeology, generally dating 1476-1534 CE, during which the Inca established an empire controlled from Cuzco, which eventually reached from central Chile to southern Colombia. The period ends in 1534, the year marking the fall of the Inca empire after the Spanish conquest.
• lozenges - Figures that are squares or rhombuses rotated to have their corners on the horizontal and vertical axes. Common as an isolated motif, in a diaper pattern, or in a running series.
• Peruvian - Of or belonging to the nation of Peru or its people.
• selvage - The longitudinal edge of a piece of textile closed by weft loops, often distinguished by warp ends differing from those in the body of the textile and sometimes by a change in the binding.
• tassel - Pendant trimming, decoration, or garment, comprising loose strands. Before the 20th century, usually a wooden mold covered with strands of silk or worsted; now often merely a bunch of threads, cords, or other strands gathered together at the top.
• textiles - General term for carpets, fabrics, costume, or other works made of textile materials, which are natural or synthetic fibers created by weaving, felting, knotting, twining, or otherwise processing. For works of art or high craft that employ textile as a medium, prefer "textile art (visual works)."
• zigzags - Lines or bands composed of a series of chevrons.