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

171
Four-Cornered Hat
Running Staff-Bearer
Wari culture, South Coast
AD 600-1000
Cotton, camelid wool; looping (larks-head knotting)
with supplementary pile, pieced construction
5½" x 4"
Literature
Bergh 2013, fig. 11.
With its fleecy surface and long tufted "ears," the fourcornered
Wari hat undoubtedly alludes to the llamas
and alpacas that were crucial to Andean societies and intrinsic
to the development of their woven art. The camelid supplied
wool, hide, food, fats, as well as mobility, to coastal and highland
peoples alike.
Although the Wari lords wore a variety of headgear, this
singular style of head adornment is both the most conceptually
complex and the most imaginative in terms of execution. Large
pottery effigies portray Wari dignitaries, warriors and sacrificers
bedecked in these square hats, which must have matched those
individuals' particular social positions or functions within the
imperial structure.
As soft, sculptural expressions of "form, texture, iconography
and geometry," 1 the knotted pile hats are three-dimensional
masterpieces of ancient fiber art.
Generally, geometric or figural patterning (sometimes both)
unfolds symmetrically over all four sides of the hat, repeated
in four different spatial planes and directions. Many layouts
are characterized by bold concentric or quartered diamond
motifs, checkerboards, and other interpretations of the square
or diagonal patterned grid. In contrast, this exemplary piece,
which is lustrous with velvety pile and crisp color, highlights
a single, large-scale figure—an angular interpretation of the
mythical staff-bearer.
The figure is reduced to a graphic abstraction, however, with
only an oblong block delineating a truncated head and torso.
Yet dynamic details such as the uplifted foot, the free hand
extending behind his back and the bird-tipped hair or headdress
streaming backward at a slight tilt convey motion and speed, as
if the character were running rather than kneeling in the usual
static supplicant or attendant mode.
The motif is repeated in all four frames, rendered in a twocolor
scheme (blue/yellow or red/green) that is paired on
opposite sides. As is typical of Wari styles, the monochromatic
top is subtly textured with a ribbed design, generated with a
single-element looping technique, which subdivides the square
on its diagonal axes.
1 Mary Frame, Andean Four-Cornered Hats: Ancient Volumes (1990): 6.
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