Shamans, Supernaturals & Animal Spirits: Mythic Figures From the Ancient Andes

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Section from a Tunic
Heads and Skull Motifs
Late or post-Wari style (Chachapoyas?)
Circa AD 800-1000
Camelid wool; tapestry weave
20" x 27"
The kaleidoscopic patterning on this tunic is extremely atypical,
suggesting that it originates from an outpost of the Wari Empire
(possibly the eastern tropical Chachapoyas region), where different
stylistic conventions prevailed. The cryptic or scrambled imagery
indicates that the textile dates to the very end of the timeline defined
by Wari domination (the Middle Horizon), if not multiple decades later.
The standard columnar layout, for example, is entirely subverted by a
compositional density that leaves no room for the solid color bands
that usually subdivide the visual plane. Nevertheless, the expansion/
contraction dynamic of the primary image, as well as the alternation
between frontal and side views, are kept.
Skulls and profile heads (details at left), fitted together in an intricate
mosaic, combine into larger figures that evoke animal forms. Spirals,
figure eights, hooks and wavy lines (tails? ears?) inject curvilinearity into
a composition dominated by groups of squared circles and hexagons
(eyes, mouths) outlined in white on a red ground.
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