'Recuerdo' Jaspe Cloth (K’iche’)
Maker Once Known, K’iche’ People (San Cristóbal Verapáz, Guatemala)
'Recuerdo' Jaspe Cloth (pre-1980)
cotton, dye
144.0 x 103.0 cm
Transferred from the Currier Gallery of Art, "Greenleaf Collection"
86-292
This length of cloth comes from the K’iche’ community of Maya people living in Guatemala, and was the work of a skilled weaver experienced with the jaspe technique popular in parts of the region. Jaspe, like ikat, is a resist dyeing technique were the warps and wefts are dyed separately according to specific patterns prior to weaving; as one can imagine, it takes great skill to successfully dye the warps and wefts and then weave clear patterns into the resulting cloth. You can learn more about this process on by going to the page on the jaspe uk encountered during this project. Perhaps even more impressive than the ability to create clear patterns and pictures in jaspe, is the ability to weave in words, but this weaver has done so. In two bands on each end of the cloth, the word 'Recuerdo' appears. Recuerdo means memory or remembrance, and there are a few examples of this word, sometimes accompanied with a name as in this tzut pictured on the left, being woven into cloth in K’iche’ culture.
This textile presents some mysteries. As suggested above, it is a cotton cloth, woven on a floor loom using jaspe techniques in some places to create the Recuerdo message and the other white decorative patterning in the stripes on the ends. The rest is a weft-faced weave executed in a striping style that is often characteristic of shawls, yet the cloth is skirt length. Perhaps this cloth was woven to be used as a wrap skirt (uk), or shawl (perraje), or perhaps given the memory woven into the cloth, it had a different intended purpose. A cloth of memory or remembrance could have been woven for a loved one, as the example with a name attached would seem to suggest, or it could be a commemorative cloth, something to acknowledge an important time or event. It could even be a tourist cloth, a memento of vacation travels. We can't know what memories the weaver wished to imbue in this cloth, or what use it served after its making, but we are happy to share this example of jaspe craftsmanship so that others may learn about it with us.
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- Decorative Techniques from Around the World Jessica Nelson