Wari Tie-Dye Textile Panel – Diamond Motifs (Auction 2026-06-05, Lot 70)

$642.50

A Wari textile panel woven from camelid hair, likely a fragment of a tunic, worked in the tie-dye technique on a deep black ground and patterned across its surface with rows of hollow diamonds and rounded lozenges in red, ochre, and natural undyed ivory, each motif the ghost of a tied bunch of fabric, the color kept out by the binding rather than put in by the brush. The Wari, whose capital lay northeast of present-day Ayacucho, were among the most technically accomplished textile producers of the ancient Andes, and their tie-dyed garments circulated as prestige objects throughout the southern highlands and coastal regions during the second half of the first millennium CE. Alpaca and other camelid fibers were the prestige materials of Andean weaving, prized for their fineness, luminosity, and capacity to hold dye with exceptional saturation. Unlike the heavier tapestry-woven cloth for which Andean cultures are better known, tie-dyed tunics achieved their visual density through repetition and restraint, the geometry entirely the product of how the fabric was gathered, bound, and immersed. A woven border runs along one edge, framing the field and marking this as a finished garment rather than raw cloth. Size: 60.5″ L x 42″ W (153.7 cm L x 106.7 cm W)

Provenance: private Lanier collection, West Covina, California, USA via descent from father, acquired in the 1970’s.

Condition: Damaged. Mounted to modern fabric. Some discoloring, fraying, tears, pulls, and losses as shown, all commensurate with age. Good remaining pigments.