Object Name: Fragment from a tie-dyed mantle
Cultural Group / Place of Origin: Nasca/Wari culture, Nasca Valley south coast of Peru.
Date: Circa 600-700 CE
Materials Used: Camelid-hair warp and weft, resist dyed (tie-dyed); discontinuous warp and weft, plain weave
Dimensions: 15 x 7 cm
Credit line and Accession Number: Fowler Museum at UCLA. Gift of Doran H. Ross. X80.1122

Source: Elena Phipps, The Peruvian Four-Selvaged Cloth. Ancient Threads / New Directions. Fowler Museum Textile Series, No. 12, Los Angeles, 2013
Ten selvage edges are present on this fragment.
Composed as a stepped design, this small tie-dyed textile (woven to shape) is a near-complete unit. It would have formed one part of a puzzle-like composition. The cloth would have been woven, removed from the loom, tied with a material that would resist the penetration of dye, and then immersed in a red dye bath (likely made from a madder-like plant). After removal from the dye bath, the resist material would have been removed, revealing the original white color of the woven camelid-hair cloth. Each edge of the stepped pattern was created with discontinuous warps and wefts, set up on the loom with scaffolding yarns.