Fragment from the Topacu Waistband of a Tunic (Uncu) (1550-1625): Artwork and History

Fragment from the Topacu Waistband of a Tunic (Uncu) (1550-1625) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Colonial Inca Inca or Indigenous Viceroyalty of Peru, likely near Cuzco (now probably Peru, possibly Bolivia).

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

This textile was cut from the waist area of an Inca or Indigenous man’s tunic, called an uncu in Quechua. It was woven during the Spanish colonial period and features five rows of rectangular tocapu motifs. During the Inca Empire, these designs could only be woven for the Sapa Inca, or emperor, who alone granted permission to wear them. These sumptuary laws were later ignored, however, and tocapu clothing became a way for Indigenous elites to display their wealth. This tunic shoulder fragment in our collection was also part of the same garment. A third piece of the same tunic is in the collection of The Textile Museum in Washington, DC (91.8).

Object facts

• Title: Fragment from the Topacu Waistband of a Tunic (Uncu)
• Date: 1550-1625
• Artist attribution: Colonial Inca Inca or Indigenous Viceroyalty of Peru, likely near Cuzco (now probably Peru, possibly Bolivia)
• Place of origin: Peru
• Medium: Cotton and wool (camelid), single interlocking tapestry weave with eccentric wefts
• Dimensions: 25.1 × 43.4 cm (9 7/8 × 17 1/8 in.)
• Type: Costume and Accessories
• Department: Textiles
• Reference number: 1924.460

Collection credit

Bessie Bennett Endowment

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The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.