Tour De Force Early Wari Tunic Displays Elite Style At Material Culture – Antiques And The Arts Weekly

PHILADELPHIA — Material Culture hosted two days of auctions devoted to fine textile arts and fine rugs, kilims and trappings on June 17-18. Day two saw the highest price item in the sale by way of a fine South Coast tunic from the imperial Wari culture, 700-900 CE, which sold to the phone for $15,000, including buyer’s premium. It is not known who wore the 3-foot-4-inch-by-6-foot-2-inch garment, but these rare codified tunics were only worn by the elite members of society. The catalog description is of a textile featuring a wine-colored ground split by two prominent design stripes, each showing repeated serial images of twin interlocking stepped latch hooks — possibly a version of yin and yang — separated by a black line on the diagonal. Warrior head profiles wearing simple caps show the essential Wari split eye, square nose and deep prominent mouth. These two motifs are shown in the same form in 80 boxes, while each side selvage features the same ideas in the unique compressed Wari style. Catalog notes further describe it as “a tour de force of textile fabrication…[that] displays the wearer’s exceptional nature to all who see it.” More notable textiles, rugs and carpet highlights from this sale will be featured in a later review.