Colonial Inca
Inca or Indigenous
Viceroyalty of Peru, likely near Cuzco (now probably Peru, possibly Bolivia)
Fragment from the Topacu Waistband of a Tunic (Uncu)
INV-1283
Colonial Inca
Inca or Indigenous
Viceroyalty of Peru, likely near Cuzco (now probably Peru, possibly Bolivia)1550-1625
Fragment from the Topacu Waistband of a Tunic (Uncu)
Colonial Inca Inca or Indigenous Viceroyalty of Peru, likely near Cuzco (now probably Peru, possibly Bolivia) →incaamericasandeanandestextileweaving
Date
1550-1625
Medium
Cotton and wool (camelid), single interlocking tapestry weave with eccentric wefts
Dimensions
25.1 × 43.4 cm (9 7/8 × 17 1/8 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Bessie Bennett Endowment
This textile was cut from the waist area of an Inca or Indigenous man’s tunic, called an uncu in Quechua. It was woven during the Spanish colonial period and features five rows of rectangular tocapu motifs. During the Inca Empire, these designs could only be woven for the Sapa Inca, or emperor, who alone granted permission to wear them. These sumptuary laws were later ignored, however, and tocapu clothing became a way for Indigenous elites to display their wealth.
This tunic shoulder fragment in our collection was also part of the same garment. A third piece of the same tunic is in the collection of The Textile Museum in Washington, DC (91.8).
Also notable
Works in the same vein
