About this artwork
This textile was cut from the waist area of an Inca or Indigenous man’s tunic, called an uncu in Quechua. It was woven during the Spanish colonial period and features five rows of rectangular tocapu motifs. During the Inca Empire, these designs could only be woven for the Sapa Inca, or emperor, who alone granted permission to wear them. These sumptuary laws were later ignored, however, and tocapu clothing became a way for Indigenous elites to display their wealth.
This tunic shoulder fragment in our collection was also part of the same garment. A third piece of the same tunic is in the collection of The Textile Museum in Washington, DC (91.8).
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Textiles
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Culture
- Inca
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Title
- Fragment from the Topacu Waistband of a Tunic (Uncu)
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Place
- Peru (Object made in)
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Date
- Made 1532–1700
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Medium
- Cotton and wool (camelid), single interlocking tapestry weave with eccentric wefts
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Dimensions
- 25.1 × 43.4 cm (9 7/8 × 17 1/8 in.)
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Credit Line
- Bessie Bennett Endowment
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Reference Number
- 1924.460
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IIIF Manifest
- https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/12830/manifest.json
Extended information about this artwork
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
