Tunic with Frontal Figures

1400–1532

Tunic with Frontal Figures, 1400–1532. Central Andes, Central Coast, Ychsma (Pachacamac) people. Cotton; slit tapestry weave; neck edge to hem: 46.7 cm (18 3/8 in.); width across shoulders: 81.9 cm (32 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2016.267 This tunic was made by weavers of the Ychsma (yeach-mah) people, who were affiliated with Pachacamac, a huge religious center that served as the seat of the most important oracle in the late pre-Hispanic Andes. The figures repeated across the body may represent important ancestors or high-ranking members of Ychsma society. The tunic likely dates to the period after the Inka Empire conquered Ychsma coastal territory on its way to becoming the largest indigenous polity to have existed in the ancient Americas.