Coca Bag Item Number: 3486/49 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Small coca leaf bag (chuspa) with tubular-woven edgings (ribetes) on seams and edgings, and a short yarn fringe on the bottom. A quadruped, possibly a fox with a bushy tail, is woven on one side and concentric diamond shapes on the other.
Different types of Andean bags (bolsas, generic term, Spanish) have different names and characteristics. Square or rectangular bags used by men to carry coca leaves are called "chuspa". Some of these have small pockets woven into one face for carrying the llipt’a (lime-ash substance that releases the alkaloids when chewed with the leaves). Some have straps and are worn around the waist or shoulder.
Bag was bought in Sucre, Bolivia in 1983 at the shop of Elizabeth Rojas.
Woven in complementary warp weave. The floats line up on diagonals in this weave, producing the diagonal effect that is characteristic of Potolo weaving.