The influence of fishing is evident on this type of Chancay open-work fabric. As a coastal culture of central Peru, Chancay people survived on both ocean and river valley fishing. Net-making practices developed into superb cotton open-weave textiles with intricate patterns. Initially wild cotton was used, but later the cotton plant was domesticated.

Weavers were adept at controlling the density and texture of the complex cloth produced. This type has been identified as particular to coastal communities, and varies considerably from similar cloth produced in the highlands. Chancay open-weave textiles were often preserved as white, rather than dyed like other fabric. Some have been found with dyed stripes achieved after the cloth had been woven. Identified as women’s head cloths,¹ these two exceptional examples are intricately patterned, one with fish and the other with feline motifs.

Although sometimes described as ‘lace’, ‘embroidery’ or ‘gauze’, the fabric is actually none of these. Known as ‘open-weave’, it is created from an open network of warps and wefts. It is constructed with pairs of warps, around which paired wefts are wrapped and then knotted to form a network of grids. Triangular and squared spacings are created through these knotted grids.

Simeran Maxwell

1. Rebecca Stone-Miller, To weave for the sun: Andean textiles in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston: Museum of Fine Arts 1992, p. 46

The influence of fishing is evident on this type of Chancay open-work fabric. As a coastal culture of central Peru, Chancay people survived on both ocean and river valley fishing. Net-making practices developed into superb cotton open-weave textiles with intricate patterns. Initially wild cotton was used, but later the cotton plant was domesticated.

Weavers were adept at controlling the density and texture of the complex cloth produced. This type has been identified as particular to coastal communities, and varies considerably from similar cloth produced in the highlands. Chancay open-weave textiles were often preserved as white, rather than dyed like other fabric. Some have been found with dyed stripes achieved after the cloth had been woven. Identified as women’s head cloths,¹ these two exceptional examples are intricately patterned, one with fish and the other with feline motifs.

Although sometimes described as ‘lace’, ‘embroidery’ or ‘gauze’, the fabric is actually none of these. Known as ‘open-weave’, it is created from an open network of warps and wefts. It is constructed with pairs of warps, around which paired wefts are wrapped and then knotted to form a network of grids. Triangular and squared spacings are created through these knotted grids.

Simeran Maxwell

1. Rebecca Stone-Miller, To weave for the sun: Andean textiles in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston: Museum of Fine Arts 1992, p. 46