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

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Fragment from a Garment
Spotted Cat and Labyrinth
Chancay culture
AD 1300-1476
Cotton; painted, resist-dyeing
10" x 13"
The cartoonlike or diagrammatic style of this imagery does not detract from its dramatic
theme, which sets the marauding spotted cat outside a labyrinthine structure that may
symbolize a ritual temple or palace.
The figuration is rendered with clarity, combining freehand (or possibly stenciled) painted
motifs with resist-dyed patterning. Similar circles embellish both the curvaceous, bat-eared
feline and the angular abstract form, lending a surprising sophistication and visual cohesiveness
to the composition.
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Thematically, too, the way the circular heads of the pouncing cat and the birdlike human figure
intersect expresses the kind of complementarity ingrained in Andean thought. This dualism is
implicit not only in the opposition between animal and human, cat and bird, and predator and
prey, but also in the contrast between nature (“the wild") and culture (the ritual or sacred space
where human sacrifices were enacted). And as always, the sacrificing cat serves as a metaphor
for human activity.