Shawl Item Number: 3486/155 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Woman’s shoulder shawl (lliklla) composed of two fabric widths that are cut from a single, 4-selvedge cloth. It has maroon fields flanked by a rainbow progression of stripes along the sides and the central seam. The central seam is stitched with an arrowhead pattern in figure-8 stitch in a rainbow series of colours. The orange ribete that edges the lliklla has a diamond pattern.
A lliklla (Quechua) or manta (Spanish) is worn as a shawl that is fastened around the shoulders with a pin, but it can also be worn as a cloth for carrying things on the back. The warm colour range indicates it was worn for ordinary days; a cool colour range (green, blue, black) would indicate it was a luto (mourning) garment.
The shawl was woven in warp-faced plain weave on a continuous warp. The loom was indigenous and oriented obliquely because the loom bars were lashed to long poles that rested on a wall. The oblique loom is a rare type in Andean villages. The diamond pattern on the ribete was woven with diverted warps, and was woven and sewn to the shawl with the weft threaded through the eye of a needle.
Purchased by the donor in Candelaria, Bolivia in 1983.