Category: Figural

NOW: Toy Viscachas – 46-77-30/7651A

Today we get a third viscacha for this week’s Nalbound Object of the Week. There were three viscachas figures found in a grave in Nazca, Peru. (I’ve included a picture of a live viscacha below for those of us less familiar with what exactly one looks like.) They are just a few examples of the figural nalbinding found in Peru.

Effigy, viscachas, looped. Object number: 46-77-30/7651A
Courtesy of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and
Ethnology, Harvard University. https://peabody.harvard.edu/ Request reproduction rights from https://peabody.harvard.edu/rights-and-reproductions

Object: Viscachas effigy

Description: Worked in yellow and dark brown yarn around a solid core, the figure includes the pointed ears, nose, and long tail of a viscacha. Overall: 10.5 x 1.5 x 3 cm (4 1/8 x 9/16 x 1 3/16 in.)1

Dated to: Early Intermediate period
Nazca2

Find location: Nazca, Peru3

Material: camelid4

Stitch(es) used: (Simple) Looping.5

Object number: 46-77-30/7651A

Current location: Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Harvard University

Link to museum catalog or other data: https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/100407?ctx=4b5a04a42bb2e1beb986339955f300990aa07639&idx=60

Pictures:

A vizcacha (Lagidium viscacia) in the Sur Lipez desert, Bolivia.
Photo: Alexandre Buisse (Nattfodd), CC BY-SA 3.0

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Patrons on Patreon receive early access previews, occasional extra details, and priority requests.

  1. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/100407?ctx=4b5a04a42bb2e1beb986339955f300990aa07639&idx=60https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/100407?ctx=4b5a04a42bb2e1beb986339955f300990aa07639&idx=60 ↩︎
  2. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/100407?ctx=4b5a04a42bb2e1beb986339955f300990aa07639&idx=60. Estimated to 200 BCE to 600 CE as per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodization_of_pre-Columbian_Peru ↩︎
  3. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/100407?ctx=4b5a04a42bb2e1beb986339955f300990aa07639&idx=60https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/100407?ctx=4b5a04a42bb2e1beb986339955f300990aa07639&idx=60 ↩︎
  4. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/100407?ctx=4b5a04a42bb2e1beb986339955f300990aa07639&idx=60 ↩︎
  5. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/100407?ctx=4b5a04a42bb2e1beb986339955f300990aa07639&idx=60 ↩︎

NOW: Chancay doll – Am1909,1207.191

This week’s Nalbound Object of the Week is a Chancay culture doll from Peru. The Chancay culture isn’t well known, but there is a known tradition of burial dolls. I first ran across this type of doll in 2019 while in the UK to examine other nalbound objects.

© The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Object: Chancay doll

Description: Length: 13.50 cm Width: 9 cm1

Dated to: Chancay 900-1430 CE2

Find location: Peru3

Material: Wood, cotton, camelid wool (the looping is cotton and camelid wool)4

Stitch(es) used: S-crossed Simple Looping (as determine by Anne Marie Decker based on the photographs)

Inventory number: Am1909,1207.1915

Current location: British Museum

Link to museum catalog or other data: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Am1909-1207-191

Some sources in which more information can be found:

Photographs: There are two additional photos on the British Museum’s website.

Please note that sharing to other venues will likely be intermittent. If you wish to receive these each week, please remember to follow the blog.
Patrons on Patreon receive early access previews, occasional extra details, and priority requests.

  1. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Am1909-1207-191 ↩︎
  2. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Am1909-1207-191 ↩︎
  3. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Am1909-1207-191 ↩︎
  4. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Am1909-1207-191 ↩︎
  5. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Am1909-1207-191 ↩︎

NOW: Toy Viscachas – 46-77-30/7651B

For this week’s Nalbound Object of the Week we have another piece of truly figural work found in the Peruvian nalbound corpus. These are one of my favorites, because viscachas are sooo cute! (Once again, I’ve included a picture of a live viscacha below for those of us less familiar with what exactly one looks like.)

Effigy, viscachas, looped. Object number: 46-77-30/7651B
Courtesy of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and
Ethnology, Harvard University. https://peabody.harvard.edu/ Request reproduction rights from https://peabody.harvard.edu/rights-and-reproductions

Object: Viscachas effigy

Description: Worked in yellow and dark brown yarn around a solid core, the figure includes the pointed ears, nose, and long tail of a viscacha. Overall: 7 x 2.1 x 3.2 cm (2 3/4 x 13/16 x 1 1/4 in.)1

Dated to: Early Intermediate period
Nazca2

Find location: Nazca, Peru3

Material: camelid4

Stitch(es) used: (Simple) Looping.5

Object number: 46-77-30/7651B

Current location: Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Harvard University

Link to museum catalog or other data: https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/100406?ctx=4b5a04a42bb2e1beb986339955f300990aa07639&idx=61

Pictures:

A Viscacha, posted by the American Museum of Natural History
Photo: andrespuiggros, CC-BY-NC 4.0, iNaturalist

Please note that sharing to other venues will likely be intermittent. If you wish to receive these each week, please remember to follow the blog.
Patrons on Patreon receive early access previews, occasional extra details, and priority requests.

  1. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/100406?ctx=4b5a04a42bb2e1beb986339955f300990aa07639&idx=61 ↩︎
  2. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/100406?ctx=4b5a04a42bb2e1beb986339955f300990aa07639&idx=61. Estimated to 200 BCE to 600 CE as per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodization_of_pre-Columbian_Peru ↩︎
  3. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/100406?ctx=4b5a04a42bb2e1beb986339955f300990aa07639&idx=61 ↩︎
  4. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/100406?ctx=4b5a04a42bb2e1beb986339955f300990aa07639&idx=61 ↩︎
  5. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/100406?ctx=4b5a04a42bb2e1beb986339955f300990aa07639&idx=61 ↩︎

NOW: Viscachas figural effigy – 46-77-30/7651C

I hope everyone’s winter holiday season is going well and that the new year be all you need it to be. For this week’s Nalbound Object of the Week we got a viscacha figure/effigy. I love these because viscachas are sooo cute! (I’ve included a picture of a live viscacha below for those of us less familiar with what exactly one looks like.)

Effigy, viscachas, looped. Object number: 46-77-30/7651C
Courtesy of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and
Ethnology, Harvard University. https://peabody.harvard.edu/ Request reproduction rights from https://peabody.harvard.edu/rights-and-reproductions

Object: Viscachas effigy

Description: Worked in yellow and dark brown yarn, the figure includes the pointed ears, nose, and long tail of a viscacha. Overall: 7.5 x 1 x 1.7 cm (2 15/16 x 3/8 x 11/16 in.)1

Dated to: Early Intermediate period
Nazca2

Find location: Nazca, Peru3

Material: camelid4

Stitch(es) used: Looping.5 S-crossed and Z-crossed Simple Looping depending on which part of the viscacha (as determined by Anne Marie Decker based on the photograph)

Object number: 46-77-30/7651C

Current location: Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Harvard University

Link to museum catalog or other data: https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/100405?ctx=4b5a04a42bb2e1beb986339955f300990aa07639&idx=62

Pictures:

A vizcacha (Lagidium viscacia) near Rio Grande, in the Atacama desert, Chile.
Photo: Alexandre Buisse (Nattfodd), CC BY-SA 3.0

Please note that sharing to other venues will likely be intermittent. If you wish to receive these each week, please remember to follow the blog.
Patrons on Patreon receive early access previews, occasional extra details, and priority requests.

  1. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/100405?ctx=4b5a04a42bb2e1beb986339955f300990aa07639&idx=62 ↩︎
  2. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/100405?ctx=4b5a04a42bb2e1beb986339955f300990aa07639&idx=62. Estimated to 200 BCE to 600 CE as per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodization_of_pre-Columbian_Peru ↩︎
  3. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/100405?ctx=4b5a04a42bb2e1beb986339955f300990aa07639&idx=62 ↩︎
  4. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/100405?ctx=4b5a04a42bb2e1beb986339955f300990aa07639&idx=62 ↩︎
  5. https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/100405?ctx=4b5a04a42bb2e1beb986339955f300990aa07639&idx=62 ↩︎

NOW: Border fragment with three figures – 1956.405

The figural work found in the decorative borders made by the Nazca people is stunningly beautiful and detailed. This week’s Nalbound Object of the Week is a beautiful sample of their cross-knit looped borders. This fragment has three very distinct figures. The Art Institute of Chicago’s website has very nice closeups of both sides and a very good zoom function if you’d like to see more.

Nazca. Fragment of a Decorative Border, 100 BCE-200 CE. The Art Institute of Chicago®
CC0 Public Domain

Object: Fragment of a Decorative Border 1956.405

Description: A border fragment with three figures. The figures are about 2.5 inches tall. The piece is 11.4 × 6.7 cm (4 1/2 × 2 5/8 in.)1

Dated to: 100 BCE-200 CE2

Culture: Nazca3

Find location: Possibly Coyungo, Nasca Valley, south coast, Peru4

Material: Cotton (plain woven ground), Camelid wool5

Stitch(es) used: The band’s ground support is plain weave and the extension supports are simple looping. The ground is encased in the decorative cross-knit looping6

Inventory number: 1956.405

Current location: The Art Institute of Chicago®

Link to museum catalog or other data: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/3000/fragment-of-a-decorative-border

Some sources in which more information can be found:

Sawyer, Alan R. Early Nasca Needlework. London: Laurence King Publishing, 1997. pg. 149, fig. 119 and 120 (ill.).

Melo, Alipio, María José Murillo, and Danitza Willka. “The Heartbeat of Andean Weaving,” in On Loss and Absence: Textiles of Mourning and Survival, eds. Isaac Facio, Nneka Kai, L Vinebaum, and Anne Wilson, exh. cat. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2025. pg. 164, fig. 3 (ill.).

Photographs (if permissions allow):

Please note that sharing to other venues will likely be intermittent. If you wish to receive these each week, please remember to follow the blog.
Patrons on Patreon receive early access previews, occasional extra details, and priority requests.

  1. The Art Institute of Chicago® https://www.artic.edu/artworks/3000/fragment-of-a-decorative-border ↩︎
  2. The Art Institute of Chicago® https://www.artic.edu/artworks/3000/fragment-of-a-decorative-border ↩︎
  3. The Art Institute of Chicago® https://www.artic.edu/artworks/3000/fragment-of-a-decorative-border ↩︎
  4. The Art Institute of Chicago® https://www.artic.edu/artworks/3000/fragment-of-a-decorative-border ↩︎
  5. The Art Institute of Chicago® https://www.artic.edu/artworks/3000/fragment-of-a-decorative-border ↩︎
  6. The Art Institute of Chicago® https://www.artic.edu/artworks/3000/fragment-of-a-decorative-border ↩︎

NOW: Border of warriors – 1956.1267.3a-h

This week’s Nalbound Object of the Week is a beautiful cross-knit looping example. A border of warriors and their sacrifice, originally intended to be attached to a piece of fabric. If you go to the The Art Institute of Chicago’s website there is a very good zoom function and some close-ups showing the underlying support worked in Simple Looping.

Nazca. Warrior Fragments, 100 BCE-200 CE. The Art Institute of Chicago®
CC0 Public Domain

Object: Border of warriors

Description: A border of warriors and a sacrifice. The figures are about 2.5 inches tall. More details on The Art Institute of Chicago’s website.

Dated to: 100 BCE–200 CE1

Culture: Nazca2

Find location: South coast, Peru3

Material: Cotton (ground), Camelid wool4

Stitch(es) used: Simple Looping for the ground support, cross-knit looping and cross-knit loop stitch embroidery5

Inventory number: 1956.1267.3a-h

Current location: The Art Institute of Chicago®

Link to museum catalog or other data: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/148858/warrior-fragments

Some sources in which more information can be found:

Sawyer, Alan R. Early Nasca Needlework. London: Laurence King Publishing, 1997. pg. 148, color fig. 117.

Photographs (if permissions allow):

Please note that sharing to other venues will likely be intermittent. If you wish to receive these each week, please remember to follow the blog.
Patrons on Patreon receive early access previews, occasional extra details, and priority requests.

  1. The Art Institute of Chicago® https://www.artic.edu/artworks/148858/warrior-fragments ↩︎
  2. The Art Institute of Chicago® https://www.artic.edu/artworks/148858/warrior-fragments ↩︎
  3. The Art Institute of Chicago® https://www.artic.edu/artworks/148858/warrior-fragments ↩︎
  4. The Art Institute of Chicago® https://www.artic.edu/artworks/148858/warrior-fragments ↩︎
  5. The Art Institute of Chicago® https://www.artic.edu/artworks/148858/warrior-fragments ↩︎

NOW: Nazca band with Birds & Flowers Am1931,1123.21.a

The Nazca were masters of figural nalbinding. Today’s Nalbound Object of the Week is a fragment of a brightly colored band with birds alternating with flowers coming out of it and flowers growing out of both sides as well. I had the honor of examining this one in person in October of 2019.

Am1931,1123.21.a is fragmentary. We don’t know the full extent of the original piece.
© The Trustees of the British Museum (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Object: Band with Birds & many Flowers

Description: Starting with a red band worked in the round that is approximately 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide, with the tails and wings of the bird integral on both sides, the breast, head, and beaks of the birds are worked out of the center of one side. There is a flower worked out of the center of the band for each bird to sip from between each bird. Flowers also extend from both sides of the band making the total width just under 3 inches (just under 8 cm) on average. Putting the pieces together, I measured the central band as 37 cm long.1

Dated to: 100-400 CE2

Find location: Nazca, Peru3

Material: 2 ply Z-spun S-plied Camelid wool.4 Further investigation may reveal that some of the yarns or plies of yarns come from other sources as they do not have the same texture as the majority.

Stitch(es) used: Z-crossed Cross-knit Looping5 (specific crossing determined by Anne Marie Decker during examination in October 2019)

Gauge: Approximately 19 stitches to the inch and 28 rows to the inch (approx 8 stitches and 11 rows per cm)

Inventory number: Am1931,1123.21.a

Current location: The British Museum Textile Centre

Link to museum catalog or other data: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Am1931-1123-21-a

Some sources in which more information can be found:

Pardo, Cecilia and Jago Cooper, ed. Peru: A Journey in Time. British Museum 2021. ISBN 9780714124926. Pgs. 92-93.

Photographs (if permissions allow):

This is a zoomed in and cropped version of the British Museum’s image of Am1931,1123.21.a showing one of the birds on the band and associated flowers.
The British Museum’s online catalog has a beautiful zoom function. Go to the site to see more details.
© The Trustees of the British Museum (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
The fragment in the British Museum may have been part of a larger piece similar to this 2nd century BCE Nazca Border Fragment 
Accession Number: 31.20.1
Photo credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art – Public Domain

Please note that sharing to other venues will likely be intermittent. If you wish to receive these each week, please remember to follow the blog.

  1. Length: 8 centimetres Width: 39 centimetres according to https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Am1931-1123-21-a Accessed 14 June 2024 ↩︎
  2. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Am1931-1123-21-a Accessed 14 June 2024 ↩︎
  3. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Am1931-1123-21-a Accessed 14 June 2024 ↩︎
  4. Plies determined by Anne Marie Decker during October 2019 examination. Camelid wool according to https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Am1931-1123-21-a Accessed 14 June 2024 ↩︎
  5. Cross-knit Loop stitch according to https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Am1931-1123-21-a Accessed 14 June 2024 ↩︎

NOW: Cap with Puppies 1964.52.1

The collection of Peruvian nalbinding is full of beautiful figural work. This week’s Nalbound Object of the Week is one of my favorites: a small cap with a dog nursing her puppies.1

A small dark brown cap/fascinator with a light brown edge and a striped mother dog nursing her three striped puppies.
Photo: The Textile Museum – Public Domain

Object: Peruvian cap with puppies

Description: The cap is a slightly ovaloid shape just under 6 inches in diameter (5.5 x 5.75 inches) and 1.5 inches high (3.81 H x 14.60 W x 13.97 D cm).2 On top of the cap is a striped “dog” nursing three striped “puppies” worked in 3 dimensional figural nalbinding.

We know of several other caps from Peru in this time frame with figural work on them. One in purple and white stripes with a chicken head. Another in red and yellows with two birds on top.

Dated to: 1000-15003

Find location: Peru, probably coastal4

Material: camelid5 (meaning unspecified fiber off the alpaca or llama or other variety of camelid animals6)

Stitch(es) used: S-crossed Simple Looping, B1 U, (museum record says Cross-knit Looping,7 but image shows a surface texture of Simple Looping or possibly Pierced Looping)

Inventory number: Accession Number: 1964.52.1

Current location: The Textile Museum

Link to museum catalog or other data: https://collections-gwu.zetcom.net/en/collection/item/165/

Some sources in which more information can be found:

Rogers, George (Author). “Calendar” in The Textile Museum Bulletin, The Textile Museum Bulletin, Washington, D.C., 1990, vol. Spring, p. 8.

The Textile Museum. An Introduction to Textile Terms, Washington DC: The Textile Museum, 1997.

Please note that sharing to other venues will likely be intermittent. If you wish to receive these each week, please remember to follow the blog.
Patrons on Patreon receive early access previews, occasional extra details, and priority requests.

  1. Looping in An Introduction to Textile Terms, Washington DC: The Textile Museum, 1997. ↩︎
  2. Dimensions: https://collections-gwu.zetcom.net/en/collection/item/165/ ↩︎
  3. Date: https://collections-gwu.zetcom.net/en/collection/item/165/ ↩︎
  4. Geography: https://collections-gwu.zetcom.net/en/collection/item/165/ ↩︎
  5. Materials: https://collections-gwu.zetcom.net/en/collection/item/165/ ↩︎
  6. An interesting article regarding the difficulties in identifying between the 4 types of camelids in South America in the archeological record can be found in Paloma Diaz-Maroto, Alba Rey-Iglesia, Isabel Cartajena, Lautaro Núñez, Michael V Westbury, Valeria Varas, Mauricio Moraga, Paula F Campos, Pablo OrozcoterWengel, Juan Carlos Marin, Anders J Hansen (2021) Ancient DNA reveals the lost domestication history of South American camelids in Northern Chile and across the Andes eLife 10:e63390 at https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.63390/ ↩︎
  7. Structure: https://collections-gwu.zetcom.net/en/collection/item/165/, but the diagram in An Introduction to Textile Terms, Washington DC: The Textile Museum, 1997 for Looping, which is illustrated with this cap, shows alternating rows of S- and Z-crossed Simple Looping, not Cross-knit Looping. ↩︎