Amano Museum - Textiles, Lima, Peru

The exhibition of the Amano Pre-Columbian Textile Museum is composed of 4 rooms and designed in accordance with 3 expositional concepts:

Chronological textile sequence - The display covers the emergence of textiles around the world, the first raw materials employed, and textile history within Peruvian territory, tracing the development of the Chavín, Paracas, Nasca, Moche, Huari, Sihuas, Lambayeque, Chimú, Chancay, Chuquibamba, and Inca cultures.

Raw materials and textile tools room - Displays the entire process required for the production of the textiles exhibited in the museum, from the selection of raw materials, to dyeing, spinning, and the types of loom employed. Examples of the textile mastery achieved are exhibited, together with items demonstrating the different uses to which fibers were put.

Yoshitaro Amano room - Access is now available to the storage facilities of the museum, where cabinets can be opened by those interested in studying the textile art developed by the Chancay culture through close observation of fine examples of the different techniques and designs adopted and enriched by this great society of skilled textile workers and pottery makers.

In its first two rooms, the Amano Textile Museum exhibits more than 120 textile works representing the long history of cultural development in pre-Columbian Peru. The visitor experience culminates with the room in which more than 460 examples of Chancay textiles from the collection amassed by Mr. Amano are displayed.

Entrance to the museum
Amano Pre-Columbian Textile Museum is a museum in Miraflores, Lima, Peru.

Chavin culture

Chavin monolith
Chavin artisans. 900 BCE - 100 BCE.

Carved quadrangular granite stone slab. Frontal character sculpted with characteristics of the Chavin culture: feline features, wings and human head held in the right hand. Finely polished piece.
The image on this stone depicts one of the delties of Chavín, which was reproduced in the clothing worn by the priests of the period.
Using ceremonial costumes, the priests were transformed in the eyes of their subjects into divine intermediaries, or into gods themselves. Aspects of this mythical world were depicted early, in great works carved from stone. These deities ensured seasonal rainfall and abundant harvests.

Karwa mantle of staffed god
Artisans of Chavin. 1000 BCE - 200 BCE.

Ceremonial cloak made using flat stitch technique and decorated with negative painting technique.
This piece was probably used as a cloak for wrapping funeral bundles or as a shirt.

Karwa cotton tissue fragments
Artisans of Chavin. 1200 BCE - 200 BCE.

The most common images are those of deities composed of fangs, mouths and eyes, combined with the characteristics of felines, serpents, birds, shrimps and plants.
Of particular interest are the staff gods like the one seen in this impressive textile, which closely resembles the god seen in the New Temple at Chavin de Huantar. Carhua, or Karwa, textiles contain a broad range of complex painted designs. Very few textiles of this type have survived.

Pottery with a deity's face design
Artisans of Chavin. 1200 BCE - 200 BCE.

Ceramic piece, globular bottle with stirrup spout. Drawings: stylized face of the deity in the Formative Period. The closed oven produced this black finish.
The appearance of ceramics, another important discovery, involves the appearance of a new support to represent beliefs, priests and gods. Thanks to this burning process, the mud turned into stone and these containers made it possible to transport large quantities of liquid or cook food.

Paracas culture

Paracas gods
Creatures like this, with a feline body and hair or appendages in the form of a serpent, dominated the magical world of Paracas culture.

The people of Paracas worshipped many gods and supernatural beings. The emergence of these deities was influenced by the religious traditions of Chavin. Representations of humans can be seen featuring supernatural attributes or ornamentation that identified them as rulers. More geometric forms are associated with the Paracas Caverns period.
Other more complex and detailed gods belonged to the Paracas tradition called Necropolis. The various styles of representation in textiles coexisted during the Paracas era. Some gods were flying beings, part-bird, part-feline and part-human creatures whose outfits were imitated by the warriors and priests of the time. The shamans or priests were the mediators between men, benign and evil deities, and the dead or ancestors.

Mantle fragment with embroidered Paracas feline god
Artisans of Chavin. 800 BCE - 200 CE.

Fragment of the Paracas mantle. This piece is most likely part of the rim. The deity is a feline with snake-headed appendages protruding from its tail, head and mouth. Smaller feline design on the feline body.

Funerary offerings and miniatures
Within Paracas tombs and funerary bundles, a number of objects have been discovered that were intended as offerings to the dead, including beautiful decorative textiles, feather fans, pottery, staffs, colanders, etc. These items accompanied the dead on their journey into the world of the ancestors.

Other funerary offerings included miniature copies of kilts, loincloths, turbans, mantles, caps, capes and feather work attire; all of these were produces using the same techniques employed in the manufacturing of standard sized clothing.
These offerings symbolized the expectations of the deceaseal regarding the afterlife and through a series of ceremonial offerings performed over time they were also seen as a way of maintaining contact with ancestors.

Nasca culture

Nasca bottle, beheader
Nasca artisan. 200 BCE - 600 CE.

Nasca clothing and textiles - Men wore loincloths and short tunics, as well as turbans made from long strips of cloth. The nobility dressed in embroidered cloaks and long tunics with painted designs or borders adorned with three-dimensional figures. Some headdresses were made using sprang technique.
Women wore different length dresses that fell below the knee and wore their hair loose or gathered into braids.
Both men and women tattooed their bodies and wore face or body paint.

Moche culture

Mythical creatures of water and sky
In Moche mythology there were numerous gods and supernatural beings.

The lunar animal was one of many mythical creatures and symbolized both the power of deities and rulers and the relationship between the sea and the night sky.
Likewise, for the Mochicas, understanding their ecosystem was of great importance.
A fish called life - frequently used as an icon - was a symbol of seasonal changes, fertility and the renewal of irrigation canals.

The Moche and their textile workshops
The Moche wove textiles, mostly using cotton and wool from vicuña and alpaca.

Variation in garments likely correlates with different social classes. Sophisticated weaving techniques and bright dyes are more common on elites' clothing, whereas commoners may have had garments that were less sophisticated and lacked dye — and they likely had fewer of them.
Complex tapestries developed by artisans are another good associated with high social hierarchy.
Several specific items also correlate to gender in Moche culture, such as a head cloth for men and a long tunic for women.
See more at Moche culture: Textiles - Wikipedia.

Huari culture

The Huaris

The influence of the empire on regional cultures - The expansion of its designs is evidence of the way in which Huari culture directly influenced other societies in ancient Peru; its styles were imitated by those peoples who had contact with the Huari.
Iconography and exquisite works of art (Northern Huari) - In northern and central Peru remarkable evidence has been found of the fine textiles produced under Huari influence. On the northern coast, the symbolism and deities of the highlands began to be represented, or merged with local motifs.

Huari lords
Long tunics, known as unkus, are the most representative woven items of this society.

These were made by joining two vertical strips of material sewn in the middle and at the sides, to form different models and sizes.
Unkus were worn by the nobility and by warriors.
The larger ones were used to cover great Huari funerary bundles, arraying the nobles for their final journey into the world of the dead.

Detail of Huari tunic
Huari artisans. 700 CE - 1200 CE.

Ceremonial cloak with stripes worn by the Huari nobility, stripes decorated with profiles of designs of winged gods arranged in oblique symmetrical opposition.

Sihuas culture

Sihuas textiles

This culture developed in the Arequipa region, in the valley of the same name. Its expansion began around 600 BCE.
Its final phase, Sihuas III, occurred between 100 CE and 600 CE, contemporary with Nasca and before the emergence of Huari.
Textiles like the one seen here demonstrate how during this peried the selection and combining of colors played a central role, together with the use of geometric designs.

Chimor culture

Chimor kingdom
Chimú was a powerful and organized society descended from the Moche. It developed on the north coast of Peru.

They built one of the largest mud-brick cities in ancient Peru: Chan Chan. This was a large walled city made up of nine complexes, each containing plazas, storehouses, audience chambers, and pyramids. All of these structures were surrounded by neighborhoods inhabited by farmers and workers who supplied the temples.
The Chimú continually expanded their agricultural frontiers to the north, creating an important kingdom capable of expanding its area of influence and conquering other regions, such as the territory of the Lambayeque culture.
Chimú's large metallurgical and textile industries maintained close relations with several other domains, such as Chancay and Cajamarca.
The rulers' clothing was made up of three pieces: the turban, or cap, which supported the headdress or crown and, in many cases, had two bands that hung on each side; the tunic, or unku, with three-quarter sleeves; and the decorated kilt, or wara. In addition, bracelets or wristbands were worn, as well as metal anklets, crowns, etc. This type of clothing - made with the finest threads by the most skilled artisans - differentiated the ruling elite from the other social classes in the Chimú world.

Kingdoms and dominions before the Incas (900 CE to 1400 CE).
After the decline of the complex Huari society, regional peoples – heavily influenced by the religious practices and organizational models to which they were exposed – developed to form powerful regional domains.

These included the domains of Lambayeque and Chimú, descendants of the Moche; Chancay, Ichsma, Huarco and Chincha, as well as the Chuquibamba, Chiribaya and Killke cultures in the south.
This period was marked by long-distance trade and the creation of administrative centers for storing resources.

Chancay culture

Chancay, a textile culture: 900 CE - 1450 CE
This society emerged on Peru’s central coast and formed part of tradition of small regional chiefdoms which from around 900 CE developed rapidly and pacifically as skillful textile makers and potters.

This culture developed a remarkable variety of textile techniques. These included gauze and cross-hatching, lace, double face weaving, tapestry, weft pattern, embroidery, resist dyeing and painted cloth, as well as featherwork.
The Chancay also developed a variety of designs and types of textile objects, reflecting the environment in which they lived and their social development.

Textile sculptures
Chancay artisans. 1100 CE - 1450 CE.

Typical Chancay Culture fabric sculptures or “dolls”.
Probably these figures represent real people doing daily actions linked to normal world in this society.
They have been found as funerary offerings.

Diorama with fabric sculptures
Chancay artisans. 1100 CE - 1450 CE.

Diorama with fabric sculptures - Wedding
Chancay artisans. 1100 CE - 1450 CE.

Amazing piece of mixed material, recreation of everyday scene or ritual in Chancay’s world, scene show a house with 8 characters inside, the guests are sitting around 2 principals characters, in ritual they play music and drink, probably chicha.
This piece is made in totora lined with cloth, with tapestry techniques, twill and plain cloth with diverse designs.

Diorama with fabric sculptures - Yunza
Chancay artisans. 1100 CE - 1450 CE.

Representation of a ceremony similar to the current Yunza.
The Yunza ceremony is celebrated by communities in the Andean areas of Peru, such as Ayacucho, Puno, Cajamarca and Huaraz. The word (which means “hill-cutting” in Quechua, one of the official languages of that country), defines the ritual that consists of felling a tree to harvest its fruits.
Pieces like this capture important moments in Chancay community life and were placed as offerings in the most important tombs.

Inca empire

The Inca empire and its organization
During their initial phase as a local group, the Incas skillfully established relationships with neighboring groups.

They formed peaceful alliances and created kinship ties between the ruling elite of other peoples.
Employing different strategies, they were able to quickly assimilate other groups through diplomacy or war.
The entire empire was supported by a complex social system overseen by the sovereign, known as Sapa Inca.
The guiding principle of Inca society was reciprocity.
Qhapaq Ñan's vast road system facilitated economic and political control of the growing empire.

Quipu (Social organization, knots and colors in quipus)
The Quechua word “quipu”, means “knot”. These devices served to record accounting information, such as censuses and taxation. They could also be used to store mnemonic data associated with historical information, genealogical records and songs.

Using spun and twisted cotton or camelid fiber, a branching structure was built up in order to express data. Complex pattems formed by varying the type and location of knots and the colors of the cords employed enabled the codifying of data.
Small quipus were produced, the data of which was transferred to larger versions where information could be centralized. Many of these were buried by the interpreters and official administrators instructed and appointed by the empire. These individuals were known as “quipucamayocs".

Textiles as tribute and identity
Specialist centers existed where chosen women produced textiles of varying quality.

Textiles served an important function within the Inca state. They could be presented as gifts to the rulers of the peoples the empire wished to annex. They were also given to those peoples defeated in battle who were subsequently incorporated into the Inca system of taxation and redistribution.
For a short time, the conquering Inca would wear the traditional clothing of the defeated people, while those absorbed into the empire were permitted to retain their customary regional dress. This made it possible to identify their place of origin.
According to the chronicles, fine items of clothing were also offered to the gods in ceremonies during which they were burned in enormous quantities. The clothing of the Inca sovereign was also burned, for he never wore the same item twice.

Spondylus tools and jewelry
Spondylus crassisquama is found off the coast of Colombia and Ecuador and has been important to Andean peoples since pre-Columbian times, serving as both an offering to the Pachamama and as currency.

The Moche people of ancient Peru regarded the sea and animals as sacred; they used Spondylus shells in their art and depicted Spondylus in effigy pots.
Spondylus shells were the driving factor of trade within the Central Andes and were used in a similar manner to gold nuggets, copper hatches, coca, salt, red pepper, and cotton cloth.
The use of Spondylus shells is what led to an economy of sorts in the Central Andes and led to the development of a merchant class, "mercardes", in different cultures within the Central Andes.
This caused the development of different styles of trade that went through evolutionary changes throughout pre-Columbian times. These are reciprocity (home based), reciprocity (boundary), down-the-line trade, central place (redistribution), central place (market exchange), emissary trading, and port of trade. These modes of trade dictate the way that the Spondylus shells are traded, as well as who is benefiting the most from the trades. Modes such as central place (redistribution) require the entity that is the central place to be the one that gains the most benefit from the trade, and modes such as emissary trading and port of trade are the modes that started the "mercardes" class within the Central Andes.
See more at Spondylus: Uses - Wikipedia.

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Amano Museum - Textiles, Lima, Peru