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

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Pair of Sleeves from a Tunic
An Interlocking Bestiary
Wari-related style (North-Central Coast?)
AD 800-1000
Cotton, camelid wool; weft patterning
6" x 15"
Provenance
William Conklin Collection, sold by Sotheby's New York, May 1989.
A
perceptually challenging effect is achieved in the design of these sleeves through
multiple superimposed figures, each one individuated by color, but lending parts
of its own features or body to the adjacent creatures.
The pictorial complexity and color vibrancy is mesmerizing. For example, an inverted
fox or coati, executed in yellow, provides limbs and torso for a bear-like creature,
woven in black and blue (top). Similarly, an inverted bird describes the belly of a green
or yellow llama-like animal, which in turn interpenetrates another quadruped who is
swallowing his tail (bottom).
This layering of images may be the weaver's ingenious solution for crowding this
menagerie into a small area. But the interconnectivity and interdependence of the
figures appears to make a metaphorical point, perhaps pertaining to Andean notions
about the circulation of energy in the universe.
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