Object Name: Corner fragment of a textile
Cultural Group / Place of Origin: Nasca/Wari culture, Nasca Valley, south coast of Peru
Date: 700 – 900 CE
Materials Used: Cotton, dyed camelid hair; plain weave with supplementary-weft patterning
Dimensions: 39 x 26 cm
Credit line and Accession Number: Fowler Museum at UCLA. Gift of the Wellcome Trust. X65.8778

Two selvages have been preserved: one warp and one weft.

This corner fragment was probably once part of a wider panel that would have had another corner embellished in a mirror image of this one. This panel in turn would likely have had a mate, which would have been stitched to it, forming a larger cloth with all four corners embellished. Beautifully woven, most textiles of this type utilize geometric designs that follow the grid of the cloth, though only in the corner area, leaving the rest of the cloth udecorated. Some of the designs form abstracted animal features, while others construct the step and wave motif that is seen in a number of other textiles, espcially tunics.

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