About the Artwork
Elaborate costumes woven in an intricate slit tapestry technique were the formal dress of the nobility of the ancient Huari empire, worn at court and placed on the body for burial. The complex patterns on this tunic may look totally abstract, but they are based on stylized eyes and mouths full of fangs symbolizing powerful feline deities.
Tunic
between 800 and 1000
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Precolumbian
Huari
Cotton and wool
Overall: 83 × 39 inches (210.8 × 99.1 cm)
Costumes
Indigenous Americas
Founders Society Purchase with funds from Lee and Tina Hills
1986.25
This work is in the public domain.
Markings
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Provenance
1986-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
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Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Bulletin of the DIA 62, no. 3 (1986): 15.
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Huari, Precolumbian, Tunic, between 800 and 1000, cotton and wool. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase with funds from Lee and Tina Hills, 1986.25.
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