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Art of the Americas to World War I
Course: Art of the Americas to World War I > Unit 3
Lesson 14: InkaInka checkerboard tunics
Checkerboard tunics, Inka, camelid fiber, first tunic: c. 1400–1540, 88.3 x 80 cm (Dallas Museum of Art), second tunic: 16th century, 87 x 76.5 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art), both in the Golden Kingdoms exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. A conversation between Dr. Sarahh Scher and Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Smarthistory.
Video transcript
(gentle music) - [Steven] We're in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art and we're standing in front of two large stunning Inka tunics - [Sarahh] Textiles were
the fabric of the empire. - [Steven] Textiles
were tightly controlled. Fine textiles were often made out of wool that came from camelids. - [Sarahh] For the Inka
ruler himself, the Sapa Inka, it might be from the Wild
Vicuna or from the Guanaco. The most common is the alpaca which is the softest and
the most easily obtainable. - [Steven] At least for the ruler, because ownership of these
animals was strictly controlled. - [Sarahh] The production
of textiles takes place on several different levels and very much embodies the way that the Inka controlled the state. Individual people might be able to harvest from their camelids a
certain amount of wool. They would make some
fabric for themselves, but they would also be
obligated to donate some of the fiber or spun thread in taxes. You also had at the very upper end, what were called the acllas. They were women who were
taken by the Inka state, kept cloistered, and taught to
weave the finest of textiles. They became the weavers for the state. - [Steven] And so weaving was integral to the hierarchical
structure of this society. - [Sarahh] There were laws in the empire that people could not choose to wear whatever they want. They had to wear the clothing of the place that they were from and that was suitable to
their station in life. - [Steven] And we believe that these were tunics
that were worn by soldiers. - [Sarahh] That is something that we have some historical basis for and there is something about the way that they
look as well that seems to lend themselves to be a
good design for this use. They are on the bottom decorated with a black and white
checkerboard that gives way at the top to a bright red yoke. When you look at them as a pair, you can start to see what happens when you place multiple
tunics next to each other. You get a camouflage effect. You start to have a
breaking up of contours and so you can try to
imagine an entire army of men wearing these identical tunics. You can't tell how many of them there are. - [Steven] And at first glance, it seems as if these squares have
been painted, but when you look closely, you realize
that this is all woven. - [Sarahh] These kinds
of textiles were woven as a single piece. They would have been created on the loom. The gap for the head would
have been made in the process of weaving, and then the piece
would've been folded over and sewn together at the sides to create the tunic itself. It's woven from extremely fine threads, and you have a bright white, you have a deep black,
and you have a rich red. The bright white would've come from the finest white alpacas. The black is probably from black alpaca wool that has then been
over-dyed to make it darker, and the red is cochineal. It comes from the dried
bodies of insects that live as parasites on cactus, and
it takes an incredible number of them to make even a small batch of dye. But what you get is this
rich, deep crimson that lasts. - [Steven] The alternation of black and white squares against
the red is powerful. There's an energy that is produced but it also reminds me of
the stepped architecture throughout so much of the Peruvian region. - [Sarahh] The way that the
Inka created their stonework and their architecture was usually to take irregularly shaped
blocks and to fit them together. However, when you look at the
highest status structures, what you start to find is
standardized shaped blocks in regular courses, and
that's what we see here. You also have the fact that
by dressing each warrior in this tunic, you create
a unit that then fits into a greater whole, so it does work within this idea of the
organization of architecture. - [Steven] I noticed that even the edging is beautifully done. There's a lovely zigzag that
creates a border at the bottom of the tunic, and the
edging itself is embroidery. - [Sarahh] The empire is investing in its warriors by creating
these high quality pieces. - [Steven] These are in
incredibly good condition considering their age. - [Sarahh] It is frequently because of coastal conditions that we have a lot of these pieces. They were pieces that had come to the coast as part of the Inka conquest and it ended up in burials in those areas and they were preserved because
of the dryness of the coast. Weaving was important to the Inka. The idea that as something is being woven life is being given to it, that it has a certain spiritual existence. Something like this is
more than just clothing. It is something that is. (gentle music)