A Pre-Columbian Painted Cat and Primate Textile Panel

Central Coast, Peru, 1400. Very good. 12th-15th century, AD. 28” x 16”. We haven’t done genetic testing, but it is likely camelid (i.e. llama, alpaca, vicuna, etc.), mixed with cotton. A repeating painted motif of birds or rabbits, with some kind of cat and primate. These creatures are common in the Chancay culture, comparable to textile panels in institutional holdings. The fabric is fragile but not overly so, with some small holes and tears along the edges. The fragility of fabrics, make them, obviously, rarer survivors than the pottery from the same era and region. From a continental European collection, formed before 1980. The Chancay culture, which (truncated) flourished along the central coast of Peru from the 11th to 15th centuries AD, developed remarkable textile traditions that formed the cornerstone of their artistic expression after the decline of the Wari civilization. Their textile production was extensive and notable for being the first Peruvian culture to engage in mass production of textiles, which held both ritualistic and domestic significance. Chancay textiles exemplified sophisticated technical mastery, particularly in the creation of delicate open-weave fabrics and headcloths that featured intricate zoomorphic and geometric patterns. The panels often displayed vibrant colors—reds, yellows, and browns—and incorporated symbolic motifs including birds, one of the most favored animal forms in Chancay art, alongside geometric designs such as hooked diamonds. These textiles employed various complex techniques including supplementary weft, double-weave, and gauze structures that required exceptional skill to manipulate warp and weft threads into precise patterns. The lightweight nature of these textiles facilitated their movement throughout the Andean region, resulting in shared imagery across Peru's central and north coasts during the period leading up to the Inca Empire. The Chancay employed an impressive array of techniques to create these textiles, including open weave, brocade, embroidery, and painting, often incorporating anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, and geometric designs that reflected their cosmological understanding and cultural values. (Inventory #: 1098)