Carrying Cloth Item Number: 3486/136 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
A small carrying cloth with tassels (unkuña); pattern is of compressed diamonds.
A type of carrying cloth used by women for carrying coca, offerings, and items of value in the Lauramarka area near Mount Ausangate, district of Quispicanchis, region of Cuzco.
Purchased by the donor in the Pisac market in 1978.
Pattern of compressed diamonds is woven in a supplementary warp weave, a technique that the weavers call “ley”. The cloth is woven with four finished edges on an Indigenous loom. The tubular edging (ribete) is woven and sewn to the cloth at the same time.
The parts of the cloth are named for animal parts (corner tassels, legs; centre band, heart; diamonds on edgings, eyes), suggesting the cloth is thought of as a living being. Most diamond designs are called lakes (cocha) and are associated with water mythology. Diamond pattern on tubular edging is called ñawi (eyes).