Tunic

Textiles

200/1 B.C.

Paracas
South coast, Peru

This tunic is identifiable through the slit at the center to accommodate the wearer’s head and neck. The geometric design of interlaced stepped diagonal lines suggests the twisting together of threads to make yarn, a fitting motif for a textile. Similar motifs appear on ceramic vessels made by the Paracas; the use of the same twisted-thread design across different media demonstrates a consistent visual language and attests to the primacy of textiles as a means of aesthetic expression for the Paracas.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Textiles

Culture: Paracas
Title: Tunic
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 200 BCE–1 BCE
Medium: Wool (camelid), simple looping; applied wool (camelid) braided neck edging; and unspun wool fringe
Dimensions: 76.8 × 74.4 cm (30 1/4 × 29 1/4 in.)
Credit Line: Simeon B. Williams Fund
Reference Number: 1957.75
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/5366/manifest.json

Art Institute of Chicago, Super/Natural: Textiles of the Andes, Feb. 23-June 16, 2019, no cat.

Pablo Soldi, Ica, Peru, by 1957 [via Pan American Shop, New York; incoming receipt Rx2213, Apr. 26, 1957, copy in curatorial object file]; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1957.

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