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Guatemalan Q’eqchi’ Maya

Huipil, before 1917

Description

Maker

Culture

Guatemalan

Title

Huipil

Year

before 1917

Medium

Backstrap-loom-woven cotton plain weave with cotton supplementary weft patterning

Dimensions

48.3 cm (19 inches) (length)

Type

  • Fashion,
  • Costume

Credit

Gift of Mrs. Barbara Deering Danielson

Object Number

82.308.31

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

From the Loom of a Goddess

February 23 - August 19, 2018

This transparent white-on-white uncut huipil shows how the weaver carefully planned the pattern to fold down the center and over the shoulders. The empty square in the middle would have been cut out and finished to create the neckline. In the central panel of the adjacent huipil (seamed down the sides but also with an uncut neck), water birds sit atop maize or tobacco plants. This motif, related to fertility and the cycle of life, is in common use in Alta Verapaz. Birds flock to the area at the beginning of the rainy season, when maize is sown.

Este huipil transparente blanco sobre blanco muestra cómo el tejedor planeó cuidadosamente el patrón para doblar al centro y sobre los hombros. El cuadrado vacío en el medio se habría cortado y acabado para crear el escote. En el panel central del huipil adyacente (cosido a los lados, pero también con el cuello sin cortar), aves acuáticas se posan encima de plantas de maíz o tabaco. Este motivo, relacionado con la fertilidad y el ciclo de la vida, es de uso común en Alta Verapaz. Las aves acuden en bandada al comienzo de la temporada de lluvias, cuando se siembra el maíz.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Huipil with the accession number of 82.308.31. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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