Chancay Figural Slit tapestry Textile Panel with Parrots

Central Coast of Peru, Late Intermediate Period. ca. 1100–1470 CE.

Constructed with a linear register of stylized parrots woven in cochineal red, mustard ochre, cream, and aubergine, finished with a long red camelid-fiber fringe.

The nine cartouches each contain a profile parrot or macaw facing right, rendered with a hooked beak, round eye, splayed wing, and stepped tail, alternating across red, white, ochre, and deep purple-brown grounds . Birds—parrots, pelicans, and seabirds—are among the most frequent motifs in Chancay weaving, symbolizing abundance and the coastal–Amazonian exchange networks that supplied tropical feathers to coastal elites. The upper and lower borders carry a stepped-wave (escalonado) band, an enduring Andean motif referencing water and fertility.

Technique is a slit tapestry with discontinuous wefts, producing the crisp vertical color breaks visible between cartouches. The fibers are undyed cotton for the pale tan ground and warps; camelid (alpaca) wool for the dyed reds, pinks, purples, and ochres. Dyes are cochineal for the reds and pinks; plant-based tannins and possibly indigo-overdye for the darker purple-brown.

The Chancay people occupied the Central Coast valleys from roughly 1000 to 1470 CE, and their weavers are especially known for combining slit and interlocking tapestry techniques using cotton warps and camelid-fiber wefts dyed with cochineal. Panels of this type were typically attached to the lower edge of tunics, loincloths, or mantles as decorative hems.

Size 20 in (53 cm) L. Mounted on board.
 
Provenance: Formerly in the collection of A. K. H., Krefeld, acquired between 1980 and 2007.