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Lot Essay
After the Spanish Conquest in Peru (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, but creatively combined traditional techniques, materials, and patterns with European forms and motifs to produce a corpus of tapestries that are a unique expression of colonial aesthetic values.
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 tapestries, were those woven with a red ground colour and filled with small-scale animals and flowers of which over twenty examples are known. As in the present lot, the design is typically bordered by a series of concentric patterns with a scalloped fringing around the outer edges. This decorative trimming composed of knotted lace-like fringes with small round pom-poms coined 'Ball Fringe' is the key characteristic of this group. A very closely related example with the same twisting hyacinth border but with a slight variation in the bottom pelmet and a decorative floral lattice within the central panel is in the collection of Martin and Ullman, Artweave Textile Gallery, New York (James W. Reid, 'The Age of the Viceroy', Hali, August 1989, Issue 49, p29).
Following European examples, a number of the tapestries were woven with armorials and iconographic motifs associated with royal families which effectively endowed the piece with a greater gravitas. The most familiar of these perhaps being the double-headed eagles of the Hapsburg dynasty which can be seen in the present lot. Here the bicephalous birds are positioned in the middle of the central panel, which is also where the neck slit would be placed if it were intended to be worn as a poncho. A closely related tapestry in the Textile Museum, Washington D.C. (Inv.no.1960.7.1) bears the same double-headed eagle motif but is crowned and further flanked by lions, (op.cit. Hali, p.26). A tapestry bearing figurative panels and eagles in the form of a coat of arms in its centre was gifted to the De Yong Museum in San Francisco by George and Marie Hecksher ('Exhibitions' Hali, Issue 111, p.37). The Hecksher tapestry also includes a wide profusion of flora and fauna as well as figurative battle scenes which serve as an historical record of the period.
It was not only Spanish tapestries that served as a design source however, as with the development of the trade routes via the Philippines after 1565, the Peruvians came into contact with Chinese silks and textiles. New patterns and motifs began to emerge such as the Chinese lion-like mythical xiezai, and the exotic peony blossom. A related example can be found amongst a group of Colonial tapestries in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which formed part of an exhibition held by the museum entitled, 'South of the Border; Latin American Tapestries and Decorative Arts', in November 1995 ('Exhibitions', Hali, Issue, August/September, 1995, Issue 82, fig.1, pp.106-107).
Each of the concentric rectangular panels is framed by the delicate white fringing which effectively silhouettes them against the red ground colour. This concentric format 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. Two such tapestry ponchos were sold in these Rooms, 2 October 2013, lots 430 and 431.
With echos of the Inca and the distant Spanish and Chinese courts, these beautiful examples of post-conquest art, are rich in imagery, harmonious in colour and successfully form a synthesis of styles between three distant empires.
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 tapestries, were those woven with a red ground colour and filled with small-scale animals and flowers of which over twenty examples are known. As in the present lot, the design is typically bordered by a series of concentric patterns with a scalloped fringing around the outer edges. This decorative trimming composed of knotted lace-like fringes with small round pom-poms coined 'Ball Fringe' is the key characteristic of this group. A very closely related example with the same twisting hyacinth border but with a slight variation in the bottom pelmet and a decorative floral lattice within the central panel is in the collection of Martin and Ullman, Artweave Textile Gallery, New York (James W. Reid, 'The Age of the Viceroy', Hali, August 1989, Issue 49, p29).
Following European examples, a number of the tapestries were woven with armorials and iconographic motifs associated with royal families which effectively endowed the piece with a greater gravitas. The most familiar of these perhaps being the double-headed eagles of the Hapsburg dynasty which can be seen in the present lot. Here the bicephalous birds are positioned in the middle of the central panel, which is also where the neck slit would be placed if it were intended to be worn as a poncho. A closely related tapestry in the Textile Museum, Washington D.C. (Inv.no.1960.7.1) bears the same double-headed eagle motif but is crowned and further flanked by lions, (op.cit. Hali, p.26). A tapestry bearing figurative panels and eagles in the form of a coat of arms in its centre was gifted to the De Yong Museum in San Francisco by George and Marie Hecksher ('Exhibitions' Hali, Issue 111, p.37). The Hecksher tapestry also includes a wide profusion of flora and fauna as well as figurative battle scenes which serve as an historical record of the period.
It was not only Spanish tapestries that served as a design source however, as with the development of the trade routes via the Philippines after 1565, the Peruvians came into contact with Chinese silks and textiles. New patterns and motifs began to emerge such as the Chinese lion-like mythical xiezai, and the exotic peony blossom. A related example can be found amongst a group of Colonial tapestries in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which formed part of an exhibition held by the museum entitled, 'South of the Border; Latin American Tapestries and Decorative Arts', in November 1995 ('Exhibitions', Hali, Issue, August/September, 1995, Issue 82, fig.1, pp.106-107).
Each of the concentric rectangular panels is framed by the delicate white fringing which effectively silhouettes them against the red ground colour. This concentric format 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. Two such tapestry ponchos were sold in these Rooms, 2 October 2013, lots 430 and 431.
With echos of the Inca and the distant Spanish and Chinese courts, these beautiful examples of post-conquest art, are rich in imagery, harmonious in colour and successfully form a synthesis of styles between three distant empires.