Skip to Content
 
Showing 1 of 1



Photo Credit: © Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. Photography by Neil Greentree.

Download image

All T'oqapu Tunic


Inka, Late Horizon
1450-1540 CE
90.2 cm x 77.15 cm (35 1/2 in. x 30 3/8 in.)
wool, cotton
PC.B.518

Not on view


Permalink: http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info/23071

Additional Images
Click an image to view a larger version


Description
This tapestry tunic is one of the finest known Inka royal textiles. Typical of Inca tunics, it was woven as one long rectangle of cloth with a neck slit in the middle and then folded in half and the sides sewn up to the arm holes. It has warps of undyed cotton and wefts of dyed camelid fiber spun so fine and woven so tight that they number between 98 and 108 per centimeter. Textiles were valued more highly than gold in the Inka Empire, and much effort went into their production. Fine qompi cloth was the task of specialists, and the best cloth, used for royal and religious functions, was made by cloistered women known as acllacuna.

Unlike other Inka tunics, this one is almost entirely covered with small rectangular geometric units called t’oqapu. Created in a variety of patterns and colors, t’oqapu may have held special meaning or significance. A common t’oqapu design, depicted here in alternating red and yellow, consists of a diagonal bar between two dots. Another is a miniature representation of a black-and-white checkerboard tunic with a red collar. Scholars suggest that individual t’oqapu may have represented specific peoples, places, or things, thus constituting a sign system akin to the knotted khipu cords that the Inkas used to record information. Garments bearing this design could thus communicate the status of their wearer and possibly other information as well. We know from historical sources that only persons of high rank were entitled to wear tunics decorated with t’oqapu, and most such tunics include only a limited number of them, clustered around the neck or waist of the garment. No other known tunic incorporates such a large number and variety of t’oqapu into its design. Possibly worn by the ruler himself, this all-t’oqapu tunic broadcast the message that he controlled enormous diversity and almost the totality of possible motifs in his clothing.


Bibliography
1951. Américas 3 (1). Inside cover.

1970 The Literate Incas. Time (August). p. 49.

Allen, Catherine 1998 When Utensils Revolt: Mind, Matter, and Modes of Being in the Pre-Columbian Andes. Res 33 (Spring):18-27. p. 18, fig. 2.

Anawalt, Patricia R. 2007 The Worldwide History of Dress. Thames & Hudson, London. p. 447, ill. 714.

Anger, Jenny 2006 El Agradecimiento De Anni Albers a Paul Klee. In Anni Albers Josef: Viajes Por Latinoamérica, Belén Díaz de Rábago Cabeza, ed., pp. 131-149. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid. p. 133, fig. 3.

Anger, Jenny 2007 Anni Albers's Thank-You to Paul Klee. In Anni and Josef Albers: Latin American Journeys, Belén Díaz de Rábago Cabeza, ed., pp. 159-174. Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern. p. 161.

Barthel, Thomas S. 1971 Viracochas Prunkgewand. Sonderdruck aus Tribus: Veröffentlichungen des Linden-Museums (20):63-124. p. 64-122.

Benson, Elizabeth P. 1963 Handbook of the Robert Woods Bliss Collection of Pre-Columbian Art. Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, D.C., p. 75, cat. 424.

Bliss, Robert Woods 1957 Pre-Columbian Art: The Robert Woods Bliss Collection. Text and Critical Analyses by S. K. Lothrop, Joy Mahler and William F. Foshag. Phaidon, New York. p. 284-285, cat. 373, pl. CLXI, fig. 31.

Bliss, Robert Woods 1959 Pre-Columbian Art: The Robert Woods Bliss Collection. 2nd ed. Text and Critical Analyses by S. K. Lothrop, Joy Mahler and William F. Foshag. Phaidon, London. p. 292-293, cat. 373, pl. CLXI, fig. 31.

Boone, Elizabeth Hill (ED.) 1996 Andean Art at Dumbarton Oaks. Pre-Columbian Art at Dumbarton Oaks; No. 1. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. vol. 2, p. 457-465, pl. 133.

Bühl, Gudrun (ED.) 2008 Dumbarton Oaks: The Collections. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C., p. 252-3.

Burger, Richard L. and Lucy C. Salazar 2004 Machu Picchu: Unveiling the Mystery of the Incas. Yale University Press, New Haven. p. 1, 206, cat. 181.

Callaway, Carol and Susan E. Bergh 1996 Form and Rhythm: Ancient Andean Textiles at Dumbarton Oaks. Hali. The International Magazine of Antique Carpet and Textile Arts (89):84-91. p. 84-91, fig. 2, cover.

Clados, Christiane 2007 Neue Erkenntnisse Zum Tocapu-Symbolsystem Am Beispiel Eines Männerhemdes Der Inkazeit in Der Altamerika-Sammlung Des Linden-Museums [a Key Checkerboard Pattern Tunic of the Linden-Museum Stuttgart: First Steps in Breaking the Tocapu Code?]. Tribus 56:71-106. p. 75, fig. 4.

Cummins, Thomas B. F. 2002 Toasts with the Inca: Andean Abstraction and Colonial Images on Quero Vessels. History, Languages, and Cultures of the Spanish and Portuguese Worlds. The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor. p. 92-93, 130-137, fig. 4.2.

Cummins, Thomas B. F. 2007 Queros, Aquillas, Uncus, and Chulpas: The Composition of Inka Artistic Expression and Power. In Variations in the Expression of Inka Power: A Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, 18 and 19 October 1997, Richard L. Burger, Craig Morris and Ramiro Matos Mendieta, eds., pp. 267-311, Joanne Pillsbury and Jeffrey Quilter, general editor. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C., p. 283, fig. 20.

Cummins, Thomas B. F. 2011 Inka Art [Text in Japanese]. In Inka Teikoku: Kenkyu? No Furontia [Diversity and Unity in the Inka Empire: A Multidisciplinary Vision], Izumi Shimada and Ken-ichi Shinoda, eds., pp. 209-239, National Museum of Nature and Science, general editor. Tokai University Press, Tokyo. p. 212.

Cummins, Thomas B. F. 2011 Tocapu: What Is It, What Does It Do, and Why Is It Not a Knot? In Their Way of Writing: Scripts, Signs, and Pictographies in Pre-Columbian America, Elizabeth Hill Boone and Gary Urton, eds., pp. 277-317. Dumbarton Oaks Pre-Columbian Symposia and Colloquia. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C., p. 282, fig. 12.2.

D'Altroy, Terence N. 2005 The Incas: Inside an American Empire. [Companion Guidebook for Audiolecture]. Recorded Books, LLC, Prince Frederick, MD. p. 63.

Davies, Nigel 1997 The Ancient Kingdoms of Peru. Penguin Books, London; New York. fig. 23.

Disselhoff, Hans Dietrich 1972 Das Imperium Der Inka Und Die Indianischen Frühkulturen Der Andenländer. Safari-Verlag, Berlin. p. 181.

Disselhoff, Hans Dietrich 1974 Das Imperium Der Inka Und Die Indianischen Frühkulturen Der Andenländer. Erw. und verb. Neuaufl. mit eingefügten sechs Lebensbildern. ed. Die Welt Des Wissens. Safari-Verlag, Berlin. p. 181.

Fiero, Gloria K. 2002 The Humanistic Tradition, Book 3: The European Renaissance, the Reformation, and Global Encounter. 4th ed. McGraw-Hill Co., Boston. p. 464, fig. 18.24.

Fogg, Marnie 2013 Fashion: The Whole Story. Prestel Publishing, New York. p. 28-29.

Frame, Mary 2010 Los Vestidos Del Sapa Inca, La Coya Y Los Nobles Del Imperio. In Señores De Los Imperios Del Sol, Krzysztof Makowski, ed., pp. 260-281. Colección Arte Y Tesoros Del Perú. Banco de Crédito del Perú, Lima. p. 260-261, fig. 1.

Gage, John 1999 Colour and Meaning: Art, Science and Symbolism. Thames and Hudson, London. fig. 44.

Harris, Jennifer 2010 5000 Years of Textiles. British Museum, London. p. 276, fig. 347.

Heckman, Andrea M. 2003 Woven Stories: Andean Textiles and Rituals. 1st ed. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. p. 50.

Herring, Adam 2015 Art and Vision in the Inca Empire: Andeans and Europeans at Cajamarca. Cambridge University Press, New York. p. 75, fig. 35.

Hogue, Marianne 2006 Four-Part Head Cloths from the Peruvian Central Coast. In Andean Textile Traditions: Papers from the 2001 Mayer Center Symposium at the Denver Art Museum, Margaret Young-Sánchez, Fronia W. Simpson and Joanne Pillsbury, eds., pp. 99-119. Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO. p. 111, fig. 11.

Horkheimer, Hans and Federico Kauffmann Doig 1965 La Cultura Incaica. Las Grandes Civilizaciones Del Antiguo Peru; Tomo 5. Peruano Suiza, Lima. p. 141.

Josephy, Alvin M. and William Brandon 1961 The American Heritage Book of Indians. American Heritage Pub. Co., New York. p. 67.

Kelemen, Pál and Alan R. Sawyer 1961 An Exhibition of Peruvian Spanish-Colonial Textiles: March 13 through June 1, 1961. The Textile Museum, Washington, D.C., cat. 4.

Kelly, Samantha 2001 The Body and Its Manifestation in the Andean World: Corporeality, Simulacrum, and Image. Athanor XIX:43-50. p. 48, fig. 4.

Kirkham, Pat and Susan Weber 2013 History of Design: Decorative Arts and Material Culture, 1400-2000. The Bard Graduate Center; Yale University Press, New York; New Haven. p. 129, fig. 6.19.

Klein, Cecelia F. 2011 Before the Conquest: Contested Visions in Aztec and Inca Art. In Contested Visions in the Spanish Colonial World, Ilona Katzew and Luisa Elena Alcala, eds., pp. 29-53. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles. p. 49-50, fig. 34.

Levenson, Jay A. 1991 Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Exploration. National Gallery of Art; Yale University Press, Washington, D.C.; New Haven. p. 594, cat. 451.

Liebscher, Verena 1986 La Iconografía De Los Queros. Herrara Editores, Lima, Perú. p. 81-88.

Lubell, Cecil, Andrew Hunter Whiteford, Robert Riley and Dorothy K. Burnham 1976 United States & Canada: An Illustrated Guide to the Textile Collections in United States and Canadian Museums. Textile Collections of the World; V. 1. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York. p. 306.

Makowski, Krzysztof (ED.) 2010 Señores De Los Imperios Del Sol. Banco de Crédito, Lima, Perú. p. 260, fig. 2.

Mannheim, Bruce 2020 "Southern Quechua Ontology", in Sacred Matter: Animacy and Authority in the Americas, edited by Steve Kosiba, John Wayne Janusek, and Thomas B.F. Cummings, pp. 373-400. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C.

Marini, Pamela 1992 Pre-Columbian Art in the Bliss Collection. Historian 55 (1):31-36. p. 32.

Martineau, Kate Dempsey 2018 Ray Johnson Selective Inheritance. University of California Press, Oakland CA. p. 113, fig. 52

Matos Mendieta, Ramiro and José Barreiro (EDS.) 2015 The Great Inka Road: Engineering an Empire. 1st ed. National Museum of the American Indian; Smithsonian Books, Washington, D.C.; New York. p. 10.

McKay, John, Bennet D. Hill and John Buchler 1992 A History of World Societies. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, Mass., p. 503.

National Geographic Maps 2002 The Inca: An Empire and Its Ancestors. National Geographic Magazine May 2002. supplement map.

Pasztory, Esther 1998 Pre-Columbian Art. Cambridge University Press, New York. p. 153, fig. 111.

Pasztory, Esther 2011 Inka Cubism: Reflections on Andean Art. [Self-Published E-Book]. http://www.columbia.edu/~ep9/Inka-Cubism.pdf. p. 143, cover.

Paternosto, César 1998 North and South Connected: An Abstraction of the Americas, November 12, 1998-January 1999. Cecilia de Torres Ltd., New York. p. 9, fig. 2.

Paternosto, César 2006 No Borders: The Ancient American Roots of Abstraction. In Contemporary Art and Anthropology, Arnd Schneider and Christopher Wright, eds., pp. 157-168. English ed. Berg, Oxford; New York. p. 166, fig. 11.7.

Peck, Amelia (ED.) 2013 Interwoven Globe: The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500-1800. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. p. 32, fig. 29.

Peña, Beatriz 2018 Los Incas Alzados de Vilcabamba en la Primera Historia (1590) De Martín Murúa. Ediciones Universidad de Navarra S.A., Pamplona. p. 208-209, fig. 32-33.

Phaidon Press 2007 30,000 Years of Art. Phaidon, London. p. 700.

Phipps, Elena 2005 Rasgos De Nobleza: Los Uncus Virreinales Y Sus Modelos Incaicos. In Los Incas, Reyes Del Perú, Thomas B. F. Cummins, ed., pp. 66-91. Colección Arte Y Tesoros Del Perú. Banco de Crédito, Lima. p. 87, fig. 24.

Phipps, Elena 2011 Inca Textile Traditions and Their Colonial Counterparts [Text in Japanese]. In Inka Teikoku: Kenkyu? No Furontia [Diversity and Unity in the Inka Empire: A Multidisciplinary Vision], Izumi Shimada and Ken-ichi Shinoda, eds., pp. 241-263, National Museum of Nature and Science, general editor. Tokai University Press, Tokyo. p. 252-253.

Phipps, Elena, Johanna Hecht and Cristina Esteras Martín (EDS.) 2004 The Colonial Andes: Tapestries and Silverwork, 1530-1830. Metropolitan Museum of Art; Yale University Press, New York; New Haven. p. 153-156, pl. 18.

Phipps, Elena, Nancy Turner and Karen Trentelman 2008 Colors, Textiles, and Artistic Production in Murúa's Historia General Del Piru. In The Getty Murúa: Essays on the Making of Martín De Murúa's "Historia General Del Piru," J. Paul Getty Museum Ms. Ludwig Xiii 16, Thomas B. F. Cummins and Barbara Anderson, eds., pp. 125-145. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles. p. 126-127, fig. 2.

Piggott, Stuart and Grahame Clark 1961 The Dawn of Civilization: The First World Survey of Human Cultures in Early Times. McGraw-Hill, New York. p. 375.

Pillsbury, Joanne 2002 Inka Unku: Strategy and Design in Colonial Peru. Cleveland Studies in the History of Art 7:68-103. p. 73.

Pillsbury, Joanne 2006 Inca-Colonial Tunics: A Case Study of the Bandelier Set. In Andean Textile Traditions: Papers from the 2001 Mayer Center Symposium at the Denver Art Museum, Margaret Young-Sánchez, Fronia W. Simpson and Joanne Pillsbury, eds., pp. 120-168. Denver Art Museum, Denver. p. 121, 130, fig. 6.

Pillsbury, Joanne and Kim Richter (EDS.) 2017 Golden Kingdoms: Luxury Arts in the Ancient Americas. J. Paul Getty Museum and the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles. p. 40, 173, fig. 40, cat. 74.

Quilter, Jeffrey 2005 Treasures of the Andes: The Glories of Inca and Pre-Columbian South America. Duncan Baird, London. p. 200.

Quilter, Jeffrey 2022 "Moche Representational Art." in Image, Thought, and the Making of Social Worlds. David Wengrow (Ed.) Propylaeum, Heidelberg p. 139-162. Fig 8.

Rauscher, Emilie 2015 Incas, L'empire De Tous Les Mysteres. Les Cahiers Science & Vie 157:26-79. p. 3, 54.

Rishel, Joseph J. and Suzanne L. Stratton (EDS.) 2006 The Arts in Latin America, 1492-1820. 1st ed. Philadelphia Museum of Art; Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Yale University Press, Philadelphia; Mexico City; Los Angeles; New Haven. p. 11, 18, 166, cat. 11-2.

Rodman, Amy Oakland and Vicky Cassman 1995 Andean Tapestry: Structure Informs the Surface. Art Journal 54 (2):33-39. fig. 1.

Rowe, John Howland 1979 Standardization in Inca Tapestry Tunics. In The Junius B. Bird Pre-Columbian Textile Conference, May 19th and 20th, 1973, Ann P. Rowe, Elizabeth P. Benson and Anne-Louise Schaffer, eds., pp. 239-264. The Textile Museum & Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, D.C., p. 257-259, fig. 14.

Rowe, John Howland 1999 Estandarización De Las Túnicas De Tapiz Inca [Standardization in Inca Tapestry Tunics]. In Tejidos Milenarios Del Perú [Ancient Peruvian Textiles], José Antonio de Lavalle and Rosario de Lavalle de Cárdenas, eds., pp. 571-664. Colección Apu. Integra AFP, Lima. p. 590-591, 636-648, pl. 19, 52-60, 63-65, fig. 14.

Saunders, Nicholas J. 2002 The Colours of Light: Materiality and Chromatic Cultures of the Americas. In Colouring the Past: The Significance of Colour in Archaeological Research, Andy Jones and Gavin MacGregor, eds., pp. 209-226. Berg, Oxford; New York. p. 217, fig. 11.1.

Schreffler, Michael J. 2020 Cuzco: Incas, Spaniards, and the Making of a Colonial City. Yale University Press, New Haven and London. p. 22, 41, fig. 1.15

Sheeran, Tom 2014 Artists of the Loom: The Ayacucho Weavers of Peru. Costasur Publishing, Honolulu. p. 14, 40.

Silverman, Gail 2014 The Dumbarton Oaks Royal Tunic Perceived as a Register of Inca Worldview. In Textiles, Technical Practice, and Power in the Andes, Denise Y. Arnold and Penny Dransart, eds., pp. 261-282. Archetype Publications, Ltd., London. p. 261-280, fig. 10-1, 10-2.

Silverman, Gail 2014 Los Signos Del Imperio: Leyendo La Túnica Inca De Dumbarton Oaks. 1st ed 2. Biblioteca Abraham Valdelomar, Lima. vol. 2, fig. Cover image; Fig. 1.

Stanfield-Mazzi, Maya 2018 The Cloth of Colonization: Peruvian Tapestries in the Andes and in Foreing Museums. In Unmasking Ideology in Imperial and Colonial Archaeology, Bonnie Effros and Guolong Lai, eds., pp. 427-452. Costen Institute Archaeoloy Press, Los Angeles. p. 433, fig. 16.2.

Stanfield-Mazzi, Maya 2021 Clothing the New World Church Liturgical Textiles of Spanish America, 1520-1820. University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, Indiana. p. 179, fig. 4.2.

Stokstad, Marilyn 1996 Art History. 2 vols. H.N. Abrams, New York. p. 881, fig. 23.8.

Stokstad, Marilyn (ED.) 1999 Art History. Revised ed. 2 vols. H.N. Abrams, New York. vol. 2, p. 880-881, fig. 23.8.

Stokstad, Marilyn 2005 Art History. Revised 2nd ed. Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. p. 844, fig. 23.8.

Stokstad, Marilyn 2014 Art History. 5th ed. 2 vols. Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, N.J., p. 845, fig. 27.9.

Stokstad, Marilyn and Michael W. Cothren 2010 Art: A Brief History. 4th ed. Prentice Hall, Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, N.J., p. 430-431, fig. 15-17.

Stone-Miller, Rebecca 1996 Art of the Andes: From Chavín to Inca. World of Art. Thames & Hudson, New York. p. 210-211, fig. 172.

Stone-Miller, Rebecca 2002 Art of the Andes: From Chavín to Inca. 2nd ed. World of Art. Thames & Hudson, London.

Time-Life Books 1992 Incas: Lords of Gold and Glory. Lost Civilizations. Time-Life Books, Alexandria, VA. p. 61.

Troy, Virginia Gardner 1998 Anni Albers and the Andean Textile. In Josef Und Anni Albers: Europa Und Amerika, Josef Helfenstein and Henriette Mentha, eds. Künstlerpaare, Künstlerfreunde. Kunstmuseum Bern; DuMont, Bern; Köln. p. 138.

Troy, Virginia Gardner 2002 Anni Albers and Ancient American Textiles: From Bauhaus to Black Mountain. Ashgate, Burlington, VT. p. 107, fig. 4.13.

Troy, Virginia Gardner 2015 [2002] Anni Albers and Ancient American Textiles: From Bauhaus to Black Mountain [Japanese Language Translation]. Ashgate, Burlington, VT. p. 109, fig. 4.13.

Urton, Gary and Adriana Von Hagen (EDS.) 2015 Encyclopedia of the Incas. Rowman & Littlefield, New York. p. 98.


Related:

Bennett, Wendell C. 1954 Ancient Arts of the Andes. Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Frame, Mary 2007 Lo Que Guaman Poma Nos Muestra, Pero No Nos Dice Sobre Tukapu. Revista andina 44:9-69.

La Jara, Victoria de 1970 La Solución Del Problema De La Escritura Peruana. Arqueología y Sociedad 2:27-35.

Silverman, Gail P. 2014 Los Signos Del Imperio. Primera edición. ed 1. 2 vols. Biblioteca Abraham Valdelomar, Lima. vol. 1, p. 52, Drawing by Arellano 1999:252.

Bruce Mannheim, “Southern Quechua Ontology,” in Sacred Matter: Animacy and Authority in the Americas, edited by Steve Kosiba, John Wayne Janusek, and Thomas B. F. Cummins, pp. 373-400. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C.



Exhibition History
"Ancient Art of the Andes", Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, 1/26 - 3/21/1954; Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN, 4/21 - 6/13/1954; California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA, 7/23 - 9/19/1954.

"Indigenous Art of the Americas", National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, 1954-62.

"Peruvian Spanish-Colonial Textiles", The Textile Museum, Washington DC, 3/13 - 6/1/1961(catalogue # 4).

(photo only) "The Arts of Latin America", UNESCO traveling photographic exhibition, Paris, France, 1977.cat. no. 135.

"Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Exploration", National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, 12/12/1991 - 2/12/1992.

"Machu Picchu: Unveiling the Mystery of the Incas", Peabody Museum of Natural History, New Haven, CT, 1/22 - 5/15/2003.

"The Colonial Andes: Tapestries and Silverwork 1530-1830", Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, 9/29 - 12/12/2004 (catalogue # 181).

"The Arts in Latin America 1492-1820", Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, 8/5 - 10/28/2007.

“The Great Inka Road: Engineering an Empire”, National Museum of the American Indian, Washington DC, 6/26 – 12/4/2015.

"Golden Kingdoms: Luxury and Legacy in the Ancient Americas", The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles CA, 9/16/2017 - 1/28/2018; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York NY, 2/27 - 5/28/2018.


Acquisition History
Acquired by Robert Woods Bliss on June 14, 1949.

Robert Woods Bliss Collection of Pre-Columbian Art, Washington, DC, 1949-1962.

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Pre-Columbian Collection, Washington, DC.


Inca | Toqapus