2-728-794 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Fish-Shaped Applique, 1400-1532. This fish-shaped textile, a complete weaving with 33 finished edges, was stitched with others like it to a mantle, a shawl-like garment that was a staple of ancient Andean wardrobe. The partial "x-ray view," which emphasizes the bony white teeth and spine, is unique to the style of the Ychsma ( yeach- mah), who lived on Peru’s central coast. Marine imagery may relate to both subsistence and religious concerns—at least some coastal people of the period conceived of the sea as a deity.