between the two textile styles ends there. Whereas Paracas artists
embroidered motifs onto the plain woven surface, Wari artists wove
designs directly into the fabric, the weft threads packed densely over
the warp threads in a technique known as tapestry.Some particularly
fine pieces have more than 200 weft threads per inch. Furthermore,
unlike the relatively naturalistic individual figures depicted on Para-
cas mantles, those appearing on Wari textiles are so closely con-
nected and so abstract as to be nearly unrecognizable. In the tunic
shown here, the so-called Lima Tapestry (FIG. 14-26), the Wari de-
signer expanded or compressed each figure in a different way and
placed the figures in vertical rows pressed between narrow red bands
of plain cloth. Elegant tunics like this one must have been prestige
garments made for the elite. Clothing and status were closely con-
nected in many ancient American societies, especially in the Inka
Empire that eventually came to dominate Andean South America
(see Chapter 32).386 Chapter 14 NATIVE ARTS OF THE AMERICAS BEFORE 130014-26Lima Tapestry (tunic), Wari, from Peru, ca. 500–800 CE.3 33 – 8 2 113 – 8 . Museo Nacional de Antropología Arqueología e
Historia del Perú, Lima.
Whereas Paracas mantles (FIG. 14-20) are embroideries, Wari textiles are tapestries with the motifs woven directly into the fabric.
The figures on this Wari tunic are so abstract as to be nearly unrecognizable.1 ft.