cloth
- Museum number
- Am1842,1112.3
- Description
-
Painted textile made of cotton. Plain weave with paired warps and verticle stripe in supplementary warp pattern in brown along each edge; fringe along the bottom edge. Painted designs in brown and blue depict geometric interlocking panels and a seated figure.
- Production date
- C14-C15
- Dimensions
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Length: 122 centimetres
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Width: 135 centimetres
- Curator's comments
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Comments by a spiritual leader from the Muisca group in Bosa – Efrigerio Neuta. February 2021.The rhomboidal shapes, the spirals and the triangles seen in this textile are still being used in the facades of Muisca houses. We call those shapes “aseguranzas”. They are painted on the walls for spiritual protection, but only few people know this, most just do them because it is a common style here. The same shapes are seen in Muisca pottery vessels, gold ornaments and rock art. They are representations of the gods and the many universes that exist. He can also see the four elements represented in the abstraction of the human shape, and the navel of the human figure could be a representation of the mother, the creator, at the centre of everything.
Comments by a weaver from the Muisca group in Cota. Estiven Castro. From the type of weaving we can see that this was done using a vertical manual loom. He believes most Muisca weaving was done with vertical looms. This is an exceptional piece, local weavers have not had the opportunity to analyse the pigments used and why the colours have remained vibrant over cotton textiles for such a long time.
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British and Medieval Extracts Register (1757-1887), p.41: "Found in a cave, September 1842, with 27 other [sic] mummies".
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McEwan 2009, p.23
Textile with seated figure. Painted Cotton, Muisca, Columbia (Gachansipa), 14th-15th century AD
Striking painted textiles were once traded throught Muisca territory in the Andean cordilleras of central Colombia. Organic materials decompose rapidly in the humid conditions found there and this rare example may have been preserved as part of a suite of funerary objects interred in a dry cave or shaft and chamber tomb. It offers an unusually detailed glimpse of the structure and content of indigenous cosmology. The alternating panels of geometric patterns feature diagonal, interlaced strands that may be inspired by the kind of woven mat used for sitting on special occasions. Embedded within these are interlocking designs and spiral motifs that are matched on Muisca pottery and stone objects. The seated frontal figure adopts a "displayed" pose with outstrectched limbs and has a pronounced rayed halo-like design surrounding its head, perhaps indicating solar attributes. The orientation of the seated figure varies systematically across the textile. Extrapolating from this incomplete fragments, it would seem to have been repeated thirteen times in total.
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Vila Llonch 2013
Few textiles have survived from ancient Colombia. This rare cloth has woven borders, with painted decorations in the centre. The design includes squatting figures, with bent legs and elbows resting on their knees. Their skull-like faces have hollowed cheeks and wide eyes, each surrounded by a large feathered headdress. The cloth was originally used for burial and the squatting pose of the figures may reflect the position of the body when it was wrapped. The spiral and interlocking patterns are typical of Muisca designs, and craftspeople used similar decoration on ceramic vessels and stone objects.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
2013 Oct 17 - 2014 Mar 23. BM, ‘Beyond El Dorado: Power and Gold in Ancient Colombia’
- Acquisition date
- 1842
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Am1842,1112.3
