Object Name: Woman’s sash (mama chumpi)

Culture: Inca culture, highland tradition

Place of Origin: likely preserved on the south coast of Peru

Date/Era: Inca Period, 1438-1532

Medium/Materials: Camelid-hair (Z-spun, S-plied) warp and weft; warp-faced plain weave with warp-float patterning; added twisted ties

Dimensions: 257 x 13 cm

Credit Line: Fowler Museum at UCLA. Gift of the Wellcome Trust.

Accession Number: X65.11856

Three of the four selvages are preserved.

This long belt patterned with stripes and geometric designs is woven in the highland tradition of warp-faced weaving and may have been part of a women’s garment ensemble. Its long length would secure the anacu, or wrapped dress, worn by women following the Inca tradition. Special bells called chumpi(mother belt). This belt, five inches wide be almost eight feet long may have belonged to this special category.

Source: Elena Phipps, The Peruvian Four-Selvaged Cloth. Ancient Threads / New Directions. Fowler Museum Textile Series, No. 12, Los Angeles, 2013