ID Number

Title

Item Name

Culture

Material

Maker

Place Made

Date Collected

Date Owned

Owner

Acquisition Date

Source

Measurements

Item Classes

Condition

Accession Number

Iconographic Meaning

The design is called “pata” (flat place; pata-pata means stairs) in the very conservative community where it is made, and the image is traced back to Inca motifs and practices.

History Of Use

Belts of different types are used by men, women, and children, and some have special names. Most belts are called chumpi (Quechua) or cinterone (Spanish). Some belts are associated with pregnant women and their babies, where they are used to fasten the swaddling cloths around the infant. Belts for children are usually smaller in size. In some areas, very wide belts are worn with a stiff underbelt, which acts as a back support. Belts in Andean villages are usually made on a continuous warp and the last few inches are finished by braiding. A wide variety of techniques are used to pattern the belts. The imagery woven on belts is usually drawn from a set of geometric and figurative icons that are combined in ways that are distinctive of a particular community.

Specific Techniques

Woven in a complementary warp weave with 3-span floats in alternate alignment, “intermesh” weave variant. The side selvedges are woven in one-weft double-cloth, which makes tubular edges.

Narrative

Purchased by the donor from the maker in Lima in 2002, when the maker came to Lima to demonstrate weaving at a textile conference. The key was attached to the belt when it was purchased.

Description

Belt (cinta) finished in braids on both ends fastened together by a red and cobalt blue plied tie with a key attached. The design features a ‘pata’ (flat place; pata-pata means stairs) motif with three bands of paired squares arranged like a checkerboard in alternating black and yellow, flanked by alternating green and red squares. A cobalt blue border appears along the top and bottom edges. The silver-coloured key on the right end reads "GLOBE" on one side of the face and "SHANGHAI, CHINA" on the other side, and the silver-coloured key attached to a silver split-ring on the left end reads "TIGER' on one side of the face and 'CRUISE, TIGER" on the other.