Description:

Pre-Columbian, Central Coast Peru, Chancay Culture, ca. 1000 to 1470 CE; Andes Mountains, Inca Empire, ca. 1400 to 1532 CE. A remarkable lot of two ancient Andean textiles: a Chancay woven sash with anthropomorphic heads adorning each terminal, paired with an Inca coca bag. The Chancay sash is woven in alternating dark and light geometric panels, bordered in crimson. At either end, a vivid textile head is attached, each with circular eyes, a rectangular mouth, and a cascade of red and black fringe suggesting hair or a beard. These faces are powerful expressions of Chancay textile artistry, where abstract and zoomorphic designs often carried apotropaic or ceremonial meaning. The addition of such heads may have imbued the sash with protective symbolism, as textiles were central to Chancay identity, ritual, and status. Accompanying the sash is an Inca coca bag (chuspa), finely woven in red with bold diamond motifs, a hallmark of imperial Andean textile design. Size of mounting: 24" W x 42" H (61 cm x 106.7 cm)

Coca leaves, held sacred in Andean cosmology, were chewed in ritual, labor, and communal gatherings, and bags such as this one were indispensable in daily and ceremonial life. Their designs often expressed rank, affiliation, or sacred geometry, underscoring the deep integration of textiles into Inca spiritual and social worlds. Together, these pieces present an extraordinary pairing of two major Andean textile traditions: the funerary and symbolic artistry of the Chancay and the imperial, ritual-functional weaving of the Inca.

Provenance: private Denver, Colorado, USA collection, acquired in the 1960's

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#195782

  • Condition: Both are mounted on custom display board. Some tears, fraying, breaks, losses, and staining, all commensurate with age. Otherwise, nice presentation with good remaining detail.

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October 17, 2025 8:00 AM MDT
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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