One researcher has described the Huari as "a culture whose main design rule was to break the rules." While repeated geometric shapes are evident here, the figures are scattered apart into unrecognizable forms. Precise blocks of color demonstrate the dedication and skill devoted to mastering a vast array of natural dyes. Vegetable matter, minerals, animals and insects were sources of ingredients combined imaginatively by ancient dye specialists for a repertoire of over one hundred colors.
Pile woven and knotted alpaca wool and cotton
Overall h.: 7 in.
Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection
50.38
Photo: Paul Macapia
Not currently on view
Resources
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Patterns of Fiber, Dec. 19, 1980 - Mar. 8, 1981.
Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Indigo, May 9, 2003 - Oct. 19, 2003.
Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Peru: Kingdoms of the Sun and the Moon, Oct. 17, 2013 - Jan. 5, 2014 (Montreal, Canada, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Feb. 2 - June 16, 2013).* Text by Victor Pimentel. Cat. no. 33, p. 347, not reproduced [*exhibition organized by Seattle Art Museum and circulated to Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; however, Four-cornered hat only shown in Seattle].
Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Cosmic Beings in Mesoamerican and Andean Art, Nov. 10, 2018 - ongoing [on view Aug. 26, 2020 - Feb. 28, 2021].
Published ReferencesHandbook, Seattle Art Museum: Selected Works from the Permanent Collections, Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1951, p. 100
Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.
