Lot Essay
The lot offered here is among the prodigious output of textiles from the kingdom of Chimor woven either for local use or perhaps for burial rites. The zoomorphic motif depicted may be a highly stylized bird figure or more likely a feline motif which was a commonly used symbol of grace, speed and power. The simple repitition of a single motif is seen frequently in Peruvian tapestries from the Late Intermediate period (see Stone-Miller, Rebecca, To Weave for the Sun, Boston, 1992, pp.43-49). A similar example, also from Chimu, of a repeated zoomorphic bird figure on a solid ground, is illustrated in Jose Antonio de Lavalle and Jose Alejandro Gonzalez Garcia's book Arte Textil del Peru (Lima, 1989, pg. 255). Although the repetitive design and limited color palette may in theory be monotonous, the weaver has achieved a dynamic and mesmerizing composition.