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Unknown Maker, Guatemalan

S'ut

Maker

Unknown Maker, Guatemalan

Culture

Guatemalan, Q’eqchi’ Maya

Title

S'ut
Taute

Year

before 1917

Medium

  • Backstrap-loom-woven cotton gauze weave and plain weave with supplementary weft patterning

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Backstrap-loom-woven cotton gauze weave and plain weave with supplementary weft patterning

Materials

cotton

Geography

Alta Verapaz, Guatemala

Dimensions

53.3 cm (21 inches) (length, without fringe)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Mrs. Barbara Deering Danielson

Object Number

82.308.25A

Type

  • Textiles

Exhibition History

From the Loom of a Goddess
Reverberations of Guatemalan Mayan Weaving
Feb 23, 2018 – Aug 19, 2018

Label copy

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.

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Unknown Maker, Guatemalan
S'ut; Taute, before 1917
Backstrap-loom-woven cotton gauze weave and plain weave with supplementary weft patterning
53.3 cm (21 inches) (length, without fringe)
Gift of Mrs. Barbara Deering Danielson 82.308.25A

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Feedback

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