Tunic
Cloth was of profound importance in Inca culture: no political, military, social, or religious event among the Inca was complete without textiles being exchanged or gifted, burned or sacrificed. Fine tapestry¬ woven tunics would have been bestowed on warriors who distinguished themselves on the battlefield, or given as diplomatic gifts by Inca rulers in their campaigns to expand their vast empire. Ownership and use of tapestry tunics would have been closely controlled by the Inca state, and only those upon whom such gifts were bestowed were allowed to wear them. The Inca also exerted tight control over the production of tapestry tunics, and surviving full-size examples display remarkably little variation in size.
Inca tapestry tunics were woven as a single panel with single-interlocking joins, with the neck slit held closed by a temporary weft yarn that was removed after the weaving was complete. Once the finished weaving was cut from the loom, all seams and selvage edges were completely covered with fine double¬ faced embroidery. The seams were concealed with a precisely repeated series of multicolored bands of different widths. Along the bottom, just above that embroidered edge, a zigzag line was created with similarly colored yarns. The precise meaning of this zigzag line is unknown, but it was of such importance that it was included in depictions of royal tunics in one of the earliest illustrated manuscripts concerning the Inca Empire (Guaman Poma de Ayala, 1615-1615).
References and Further Reading
Correa-Lau, Jacqueline, Carolina Agüero, Jeffrey Splitstoser, Ester Echenique, Tracy Martens, Calogero M. Santoro, “Inka Unku: Imperial or provincial? State-local relations.” PLoS ONE 18(2): e0280511. (2023).
Guaman Poma de Ayala, Felipe (1615). El primer nueva coronica y buen goberno. Det Kongeige Bibliotek, Copenhagen. The Guaman Poma website: A Digital Research Center of the Royal Library.
Jerez, Francisco de. (1534). True Account of the Conquest of Peru. Edited by Eván R. Reyna. Reprint, London: Peter Lang, 2013.
Pillsbury, Joanne. “Inka Unku: Strategy and Design in Colonial Peru.” Cleveland Studies in the History of Art 7 (2002):68-103.
Pillsbury, Joanne. “El uncu Inca: Tradición y transformación,” in Arte imperial Inca: Sus orígenes y transformaciones desde la conquista a la independencia (edited by Ramón Mujica), pp. 274-311. Lima: Banco de Crédito, 2020.
Rowe, Ann Pollard. “Technical Features of Inca Tapestry Tunics,” Textile Museum Journal 17 (1978), pp. 5-28.
Rowe, Ann Pollard. “Provincial Inca Tunics of the South Coast of Peru,” Textile Museum Journal 31 (1992), pp. 5-52.
Rowe, Anne Pollard, and John Howland Rowe. “Inca Tunics.” In Andean Art at Dumbarton Oaks Vol. 2, edited by Elizabeth Hill Boone, pp. 453-465. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1996.
Artwork Details
- Title: Tunic
- Artist: Inca artist(s)
- Date: 1400–1535 CE
- Geography: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, or Peru
- Culture: Inca
- Medium: Camelid fiber
- Dimensions: H. 34 1/4 x W. 30 1/8 in. (87 x 76.5 cm)
- Classification: Textiles-Costumes
- Credit Line: Purchase, Fletcher Fund, Claudia Quentin Gift, and Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 2017
- Object Number: 2017.674
- Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing
Audio
1653. Túnica, artista(s) inca(s)
Arabel Fernández López y Joanne Pillsbury
JOSÉ MARÍA YAZPIK (NARRADOR): Esta exquisita túnica está confeccionada con un tipo de tela llamada cumbi, es el tejido de más alta calidad conocido en la región andina, algunos con más de 600 hilos por pulgada. Solo a las mejores tejedoras del Imperio Inca se les permitía elaborar estos textiles. Tejían cumbi en talleres especializados, tanto en el corazón del imperio como en lejanos puestos avanzados, dedicando un año entero a una sola prenda.
Arabel Fernández López es una arqueóloga peruana que se especializa en textiles andinos.
ARABEL FERNÁNDEZ LÓPEZ: Cuando los cronistas empiezan a documentar todos estos detalles sobre la cultura inca, ellos establecen dos grupos de tejidos: los tejidos cumbi, que eran los tejidos más finos y eran usados por el Inca, la Coya, la realeza y los oficiales que formaban parte del imperio incaico. Y estos tejidos cumbi fueron hechos en talleres especiales. Entonces puedo decir que estamos frente a este tipo de prendas de vestir.
JOSÉ MARÍA YAZPIK: Joanne Pillsbury, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
JOANNE PILLSBURY: En estas prendas hay una relación muy estrecha entre la identidad personal y la imagen del éxito. Estos tejidos se entregaban como premio a las personas que se distinguían en el campo de batalla. Devieron haber sacopiado y guardado en los almacenes imperiales. Desempeniando un papel importante en la politicia imperial de los Incas.
Al momento de la conquista, algunos de estos textiles fueron quemados, para gran consternación de los andinos. No podían entender por qué los españoles destruían los textiles y perseguían el oro. Porque, para ellos, los textiles tenían un valor mucho más alto.
JOSÉ MARÍA YAZPIK: Los textiles de gran valor se intercambiaban o se obsequiaban a lo largo de la vasta extensión del Imperio Inca.
JOANNE PILLSBURY: Se han encontrado túnicas incas en picos de alta montaña en Argentina, en Chile, en la costa de Perú. También se han encontrado en Bolivia. Esto nos recuerda el extraordinario alcance de la cultura visual inca del último siglo antes de la conquista española.
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