unknown Chimú
Primary

Chimú Textile Fragment (Double Weave) with Bird and Wave Imagery

Late Intermediate Period
1000 - 1450

19 11/16 x 12 13/16 x 1/16 in. (50 x 32.5 x 0.2 cm)

This object has the following keywords:

• Animalia - Kingdom containing multicellular organisms having cells bound by a plasma membrane and organized into tissue and specialized tissue systems that permit them to either move about in search of food or to draw food toward themselves. Unable to make their own food within themselves, as photosynthetic plants do, they rely on consuming preformed food. They possess a nervous system with sensory and motor nerves, enabling them to receive environmental stimuli and to respond with specialized movements.
• Aves - The class of vertebrate animals that are typically bipedal and warm-blooded, lay large-yolked hardshelled eggs, often arboreal, and possessing feathers, hollow bones, forelimbs adapted for flight (although some have lost the ability to fly) and hindlimbs for perching and locomotion, a four-chambered heart, keen vision, a horny beak without teeth, and a large muscular stomach. Birds arose from theropod dinosaurs, which were an order of carnivorous dinosaurs.
• Chimú
• double weave - Heavy textile consisting of two separate textiles woven simultaneously, one above the other. The warp is composed of two series of ends, and each interlaces with its own weft, or with a common weft which works with each series in turn. In patterned double weave, the two textiles change position as required by the pattern.
• geometric patterns
• indigo - A natural dark blue colorant obtained from the tropical Indigofera tinctoria plants. The use of indigo was first mentioned in Indian manuscripts in the 4th century BCE; it was first exported to Europe in Roman times. The natural material is collected as a precipitate from a fermented solution of the plant, where the coloring component, indigotin, is extracted as a colorless glycoside that turns blue with oxidation. Indigo is a fine, intense powder which may be used directly as a pigment in oil, tempera, or watercolor media. Since the exposed pigment can fade rapidly in strong sunlight, it is rarely used in art or fine textiles today. However, it is still used to dye jeans, where its fading and uneven coloring have become favorable characteristics.
• Late Intermediate Period - The sixth of the seven main chronological phases recognized in Andean archaeology, generally dating ca. 1000-1450 CE, following the collapse of Middle Horizon empires, including Tiahuanaco and Huari. During this time distinctive regional cultures emerged along the coast and in highland areas, including the Chimú empire. The political entities that developed during the late Intermediate Period were subsequently conquered by the Inca empire.
• repairing - Restoring to a whole by replacing a part or putting together what is torn or broken, or otherwise restoring to sound condition.
• repeated motif - The artistic device of repeating of a pattern, motif, or image multiple times in a composition of a single work, or in a series of works. May apply to the visual arts, as well as to music and literature. Examples in the visual arts include textile patterns and Buddhist printed scrolls.
• 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.
• 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)."
• wave pattern - Decorative pattern consisting of wavy lines or other series of generally wavelike forms. For the specific running patterns of successive, connected spirals, use "wave scrolls."

This object is a member of the following portfolios: