Poncho

Textiles

1300/1550

Chuquibamba region (south coast, Peru)

At least three weavers worked together to create this large textile. Their collaboration can be perceived in subtle vertical junctures in the threads, which appear at points throughout the gridded background. These lines divided their individual working areas. Ponchos were male garments, and this laboriously made example was likely a prestigious offering in the burial of an important man.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Textiles

Culture: Chuquibamba
Title: Poncho
Place: Peru (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: Made 1300–1550
Medium: Camelid wool, single interlocking tapestry weave and five-color complementary weft weave with center band of complementary weft weave
Dimensions: 199.4 × 257.5 cm (78 1/2 × 101 3/8 in.)
Credit Line: Ada Turnbull Hertle Endowment
Reference Number: 1999.290
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/152015/manifest.json

Richard F. Townsend, “Burial Mantle,” Notable Acquisitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 29, 2 (2003), pp. 10-11.
Richard F. Townsend and Kathleen Bickford Berzock, “The Art Institute of Chicago New Galleries,” in Tribal Arts XVI-1/62 (Winter 2011), p. 65, figure 12 (ill.).
Richard Townsend with Elizabeth Pope, Indian Art of the Americas at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago with Yale University Press, 2016), 376, cat 352.

Art Institute of Chicago, Gallery 136, Department of African and Amerindian Art, April 26-Sept. 27, 2011.
Art Institute of Chicago, Gallery 136, Department of African and Amerindian Art, May 10-Sept. 13, 2016.
Art Institute of Chicago, Gallery 136, Arts of the Americas, Aug. 13, 2019-Nov. 18, 2020 (Museum closed due to COVID-19 from Mar. 14-Jul. 30, 2020).

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.