Border Item Number: Sf818 a-j from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Description
Ten fragments of the same border including one corner. Design of double headed serpents repeated in interlocked z shaped modules. Tabs along one edge have designs of branching plants. There is a range of colours that alternate irregularly, but include two shades of yellow, two shades of red, three green, two brown, grey, and black. Very finely worked in cross knit looping. Z-spun, two plied s.
History Of Use
Cross-knit looped borders appear on cloths which may have been mantles, turbans or altar cloths (Bird and Bellinger). The tab edge of the border faces inward. Birds, flowers, plants, and humans are used in similar borders (Sawyer).
Iconographic Meaning
Serpents appear in all periods. In the earlier, more representational Chavinoid Style, serpents are used as metaphors on natural body coverings like fur, feathers and manufactured coverings like headdresses. In this piece, double-headed serpents repeat in a pattern that derives from 'twisted strand' or guilloche images of the Chavinoid Style. Serpents appear in increasingly geometric arrangements in styles later than Chavin, and may continue to have the same meaning. The branching plant on the tabs is probably maize.
Item History
What
- Name
- Border
- Identification Number
- Sf818 a-j
- Type of Item
- border
- Material
- alpaca wool fibre ?
- Manufacturing Technique
- cross-knit looped and dyed
- Overall
- height 129.2 cm, width 2.2 cm
Where
- Holding Institution
- MOA: University of British Columbia
- Made in
- Peru
When
- Creation Date
- between 301 BCE and 2 BCE
- Collection Date
- between 1949 and 1966
- Ownership Date
- before May 4, 1981
- Acquisition Date
- on May 4, 1981
Other
- Item Classes
- textiles
- Condition
- poor
- Accession Number
- 0711/0320 a-j