A Huari tunic, South Coast, Middle Horizon, ca. A.D. 500-800

the large complete garment densely woven in an overall design of step fret composition, the interlocked elements perhaps representing stylized wings or serpents, composed of four columns showing twelve rectangles on both front and back, the step fret motif within each rectangle shown elongated and compressed, each rounded end displaying a vertically bisected "eye", the side seams with the same design within an ultra-thin compressed column; in interlocked tapestry in camelid wool, in deep shades of wheat, teal blue, chestnut brown, and pink, with distinctive small sections of bright crimson.

Mr. and Mrs. John Tishman, New York, acquired before 1972

Textiles served as one of the principal artistic mediums in ancient Peru. The fine tapestry- woven Huari tunics were vehicles to disseminate important religious iconography and social and political norms. The overall design of this unku, based on the rhythmic repetition of the abstract vocabulary of the step-fret, is subtly interrupted by the distinct bright red areas. Tunics were made by the collaborative efforts of skilled weavers, and such color anomalies show a degree of creativity within the promotion of set patterns. See Stone-Miller (1992:104, and pl. 23) for a similarly designed tunic; see also Anton (1987: pls. 94 and 97).