Loincloth

Item number Sf855 a-b from the MOA: University of British Columbia.

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Data
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Description

An irregular fragment in two pieces that combines brown plain weave cotton with predominantly yellow camelid (alpaca?) weft-faced weaves. The largest piece (part a) has a yellow diamond-shaped, double headed serpent design in supplementary weft weaving, with accents in red and dark yellow. There is a narrow band of birds in a 5 colour complementary warp weave; red, black, white and two yellows. Weft-faced stripes of red and yellows flank the bird band. One warp, one weft selvedge present and two cut edges. The smaller piece (part b) is part of the narrow bird band, flanked by stripes of red and yellows.

History Of Use

Probably a fragment of a loincloth, as it compares very closely with a complete loincloth in this collection (Sf882). An example of a similarly bordered piece comes from the Huarmey Valley, central coast (Tsunoyama plate 125). Tsunoyama suggests a late date for that piece (1400 C.E.). The yarn spin and plain weave variant are typical of central coast fabrics but in most ways it shows north coast influence. It may date to the period of north coast influence on the central coast (c. 1400).