Carrying Cloth Item Number: 3486/137 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
A small carrying cloth (unkuñita) with clusters of tassels on the four corners. Red and off-white yarn form the compressed diamond (cocha) motif of the central band, accented with pink, green, greyish-purple, and yellow across the horizontal centre. Thick solid bands in shades of brown and grey flank the central band, bordered by thin bands in off-white, pink, dark red, and greyish-purple. Tubular woven edging surrounds the cloth. The tassel clusters on the corners including one main tassel and two smaller tassels attached by the same tubular weaving as the edging.
A type of carrying cloth used by men for sheltering offerings after they were prepared and before they were burned.
Purchased by the donor in the Pisac market in 1982.
The cloth has animal attributes (legs, eyes and heart) that suggest it is conceptualized as a living being.
The pattern is woven in a supplementary warp weave that the weavers call “ley”. Woven with four finished edges on an Indigenous loom.