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Chavín Rectangular Cloth with Bird Heads

Currency:USD Category:Art Start Price:375.00 USD Estimated At:1,500.00 - 3,000.00 USD
Chavín Rectangular Cloth with Bird Heads
<B>Rectangular Cloth with Alternating Bird Heads</B></I><BR>Chavín<BR>800-400 B.C.<BR>Cotton fiber and pigment<BR>Length 26 1/2 in. Width 12 1/4 in.<BR><BR>The rarity of textiles with Chavín imagery gives each example importance. Almost all pieces that do survive are, as this one, painted with deft brushwork on finely woven cotton fabric. This textile is unusual among Chavín painted textiles in its general boldness and simplicity of abstract design, and in the arrangement of interlocked bird images within an overall grid. This latter element looks forward to of one mode of textile pattern organization which became key in many later weaving traditions. The simplified birds' heads have eyes like those also seen in Chavín snake representations. Since much Chavín iconography is filled with double - and even triple - level imagery, this resonance was almost certainly intentional. The original selvage is present, along with one braided corner tie. For a textile of this age the condition is as expected. It is mounted on a fine weave fabric which is in turn sewn to a stretched fabric.<BR><BR>Provenance<BR>Bonhams & Butterfields, San Francisco: sale 7437E, 9 June 2003, lot 5117, p.30<BR><BR>