Lot Essay
The Andes Tapestry Production and Ponchos
After the Spanish Conquest (1526-1572), imperial Inca control of tapestry production was almost immediately replaced by Spanish patronage, and Andean tapestry traditions were dramatically transformed during the course of the sixteenth century. Colonial weavers did not simply copy foreign models and European design directives; however, they creatively combined traditional techniques, materials, and patterns with European forms and motifs to produce a corpus of tapestries that are unique expression of colonial aesthetic values (exactly how European aesthetic interests interacted with the methods and conceptual frameworks of the Andean weavers is still poorly understood).
Ponchos with double-headed eagles, the symbol of the Hapsburg dynasty, were worn as displays of power and status. In the present lots the bicephalous birds are positioned at the base of the neck slit (where animals are found on other traditional types of Andean garments), as well as the shoulders. All decorative elements are composed in white and thus dramatically silhouetted against the red and blue ground. The quadrilateral format of the present ponchos, with its four-lobed centers, central fields and concentric outer borders, can be found both in garments and in tapestry-woven hangings and table covers of the period. In fact, the designs are often so similar that the function of a given piece can be determined solely by the presence or absence of a central opening woven as a neck slit.
Although all colonial weavings share a similar style and composition, there are significant differences amongst them in terms of motifs and border designs, materials, and in the overall quality of the weaving. These variations suggest that the group represents the production of several weaving communities, each with its own aesthetic preferences, rather than the production of a single workshop.
The most common 'type' within the corpus of colonial garments, where designs for tapestries or ponchos are identical, are those woven with a red ground color and filled with small-scale animals and flowers. As in the present and following lot, the design is typically bordered by a series of concentric patterns with a fringe design around the outer edges. The fringe edge that is the key characteristic of this group is called a Ball Fringe, a popular three-dimensional trimming composed of knotted lacelike fringes with small round pom-poms. More than twenty examples of the tapestry type are known (in some cases it is only through close technical observation, such as the presence of a woven-in neck slit, to differentiate between a garment and a tapestry).
(Op.cit.: E. Phipps e.o., The Colonial Andes. Tapestries and Silverwork, 1530-1830, New Haven and London 2004, p. 92-99, fig 94 and cat. no. 135.)
After the Spanish Conquest (1526-1572), imperial Inca control of tapestry production was almost immediately replaced by Spanish patronage, and Andean tapestry traditions were dramatically transformed during the course of the sixteenth century. Colonial weavers did not simply copy foreign models and European design directives; however, they creatively combined traditional techniques, materials, and patterns with European forms and motifs to produce a corpus of tapestries that are unique expression of colonial aesthetic values (exactly how European aesthetic interests interacted with the methods and conceptual frameworks of the Andean weavers is still poorly understood).
Ponchos with double-headed eagles, the symbol of the Hapsburg dynasty, were worn as displays of power and status. In the present lots the bicephalous birds are positioned at the base of the neck slit (where animals are found on other traditional types of Andean garments), as well as the shoulders. All decorative elements are composed in white and thus dramatically silhouetted against the red and blue ground. The quadrilateral format of the present ponchos, with its four-lobed centers, central fields and concentric outer borders, can be found both in garments and in tapestry-woven hangings and table covers of the period. In fact, the designs are often so similar that the function of a given piece can be determined solely by the presence or absence of a central opening woven as a neck slit.
Although all colonial weavings share a similar style and composition, there are significant differences amongst them in terms of motifs and border designs, materials, and in the overall quality of the weaving. These variations suggest that the group represents the production of several weaving communities, each with its own aesthetic preferences, rather than the production of a single workshop.
The most common 'type' within the corpus of colonial garments, where designs for tapestries or ponchos are identical, are those woven with a red ground color and filled with small-scale animals and flowers. As in the present and following lot, the design is typically bordered by a series of concentric patterns with a fringe design around the outer edges. The fringe edge that is the key characteristic of this group is called a Ball Fringe, a popular three-dimensional trimming composed of knotted lacelike fringes with small round pom-poms. More than twenty examples of the tapestry type are known (in some cases it is only through close technical observation, such as the presence of a woven-in neck slit, to differentiate between a garment and a tapestry).
(Op.cit.: E. Phipps e.o., The Colonial Andes. Tapestries and Silverwork, 1530-1830, New Haven and London 2004, p. 92-99, fig 94 and cat. no. 135.)