Chimu Embroidered Mantle with Interlocking Birds, Three Loom PanelsPre-Columbian, Peru,...
Chimu Embroidered Mantle with Interlocking Birds, Three Loom PanelsPre-Columbian, Peru, North Coast, Chimu, ca. 900–1300 CE. A monumental camelid-fiber mantle assembled from three separately woven loom panels, joined along their selvages into a single field. Across a deep madder-red ground runs a dense embroidered lattice of interlocking semiabstract birds, their hooked beaks, stepped crests, and eyed bodies worked in gold, tan, ivory, and hot pink, each register offset so the creatures lock together without a break. The stepped, pixelated drawing follows the grid of the weave itself, a discipline typical of north coast workshops. Textiles of this scale carried rank on the Peruvian coast, serving as wrapping cloths, garments, and ultimately funerary offerings in the dry desert burials that preserved them. Now professionally mounted to a cloth-backed wooden stretcher for display. Size: 57" W x 60" H (144.8 cm W x 152.4 cm H).
The Chimu empire, centered on the adobe capital of Chan Chan in the Moche Valley, dominated the Peruvian north coast until its absorption by the Inca in the later 15th century. Its weavers inherited a technical vocabulary refined over two millennia of coastal practice and organized it on an industrial scale, producing cloth that functioned as currency, tribute, and the primary marker of social rank. Bird imagery, pelicans, cormorants, and the sea birds of the Humboldt current, recurs throughout Chimu art in cast metal, painted blackware, and adobe frieze alike, and its endless repetition here is characteristic: the motif is multiplied rather than centered, meaning carried by rhythm instead of by a single focal image.
The extraordinary survival of such fabrics owes everything to the Atacama-edge aridity of the coast, where textiles wrapped around seated burial bundles remained dry for a millennium. Cloth was arguably the most valued medium in the ancient Andes, above gold and above ceramic, and pieces of this breadth were the work of many hands over many months.
Provenance: Private NYC. collection. Ex. Edward H. Merrin Gallery, Inc., late 1960’s to early 1970’s.
SHIPPING: We coordinate worldwide shipping in-house through specialist international forwarders experienced with fine art and antiquities customs manifests. International buyers must confirm, prior to bidding, that their country's customs authority will accept the item. All duties, taxes, clearance fees, and any costs arising from customs delays, seizures, re-export, returns, or loss in transit are the buyer's sole responsibility. Artemis assumes no liability for items refused entry, detained, or lost after export. We cannot ship ancient items to their country of origin (Egyptian to Egypt, Greek to Greece, etc.).
PAYMENT EXCEPTION: For clients not previously established with Artemis, payment for all gold, precious metal, and gemstone lots must be made by bank wire transfer or certified bank check/money order, without exception.
Item #73244Overall scattered losses, mostly on the edges and lower portion. Professionally sewn to a cloth backing on a wooden stretcher.
Chimu Embroidered Mantle with Interlocking Birds, Three Loom PanelsPre-Columbian, Peru, North Coast, Chimu, ca. 900–1300 CE. A monumental camelid-fiber mantle assembled from three separately woven loom panels, joined along their selvages into a single field. Across a deep madder-red ground runs a dense embroidered lattice of interlocking semiabstract birds, their hooked beaks, stepped crests, and eyed bodies worked in gold, tan, ivory, and hot pink, each register offset so the creatures lock together without a break. The stepped, pixelated drawing follows the grid of the weave itself, a discipline typical of north coast workshops. Textiles of this scale carried rank on the Peruvian coast, serving as wrapping cloths, garments, and ultimately funerary offerings in the dry desert burials that preserved them. Now professionally mounted to a cloth-backed wooden stretcher for display. Size: 57" W x 60" H (144.8 cm W x 152.4 cm H).
The Chimu empire, centered on the adobe capital of Chan Chan in the Moche Valley, dominated the Peruvian north coast until its absorption by the Inca in the later 15th century. Its weavers inherited a technical vocabulary refined over two millennia of coastal practice and organized it on an industrial scale, producing cloth that functioned as currency, tribute, and the primary marker of social rank. Bird imagery, pelicans, cormorants, and the sea birds of the Humboldt current, recurs throughout Chimu art in cast metal, painted blackware, and adobe frieze alike, and its endless repetition here is characteristic: the motif is multiplied rather than centered, meaning carried by rhythm instead of by a single focal image.
The extraordinary survival of such fabrics owes everything to the Atacama-edge aridity of the coast, where textiles wrapped around seated burial bundles remained dry for a millennium. Cloth was arguably the most valued medium in the ancient Andes, above gold and above ceramic, and pieces of this breadth were the work of many hands over many months.
Provenance: Private NYC. collection. Ex. Edward H. Merrin Gallery, Inc., late 1960’s to early 1970’s.
SHIPPING: We coordinate worldwide shipping in-house through specialist international forwarders experienced with fine art and antiquities customs manifests. International buyers must confirm, prior to bidding, that their country's customs authority will accept the item. All duties, taxes, clearance fees, and any costs arising from customs delays, seizures, re-export, returns, or loss in transit are the buyer's sole responsibility. Artemis assumes no liability for items refused entry, detained, or lost after export. We cannot ship ancient items to their country of origin (Egyptian to Egypt, Greek to Greece, etc.).
PAYMENT EXCEPTION: For clients not previously established with Artemis, payment for all gold, precious metal, and gemstone lots must be made by bank wire transfer or certified bank check/money order, without exception.
Item #73244Overall scattered losses, mostly on the edges and lower portion. Professionally sewn to a cloth backing on a wooden stretcher.
