Lliclla or Ahuayo (Mantle or Carrying Cloth)
Maker Once Known, Quechua People (Peru)
Lliclla or Ahuayo (n.d)
wool
65.0 x 94.0 cm
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Robert W. Drew
90-677
This is a lliclla or ahuayo, a textile used by Quechua as a mantle or a carrying cloth. It is woven in two panels of natural brown stripes alternating with geometric pattern bands. The brown stripes are camel fiber, the multi colored is sheep wool, which is rougher. The two panels are sewn together down the center. lliclla are normally square in shape; according to Head Curator Thierry Gentis this lliclla "has been cut down and should have been square. You can see where one side has been cut and hemmed, not selvage like the opposite side." It would not be unusual for a piece to be modified and re-used as it started to show wear, and that is likely what happened here.
Weaving and using textiles such as these is an integral part of Quechuan society. According to a Smithsonian Magazine article on Quechuan weaving,
This lliclla shows many signs of wear, indicating that it was probably heavily used, and highlighting the integral nature of such textiles to Quechuan daily life."For many centuries textiles have been an integral part of Quechua daily life, from birth to death. Babies are wrapped with thick belts, covered with cloth and carried on their mother’s backs in handwoven carrying cloths. Three- and four-year-olds learn to spin yarn. By eight, girls start weaving belts and soon move on to more complicated textiles, such as llicllas (women’s shoulder cloths), ponchos and kaypinas (carrying cloths).
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- Clothing - Wearable Art Jessica Nelson