Huipil

Museum number:
3-29747
Permalink:
ark:/21549/hm21030029747
Alternate number:
WT 74 (temporary number)
Accession number:
Acc.4405
Description:
Backstrap- or treadle-loomed, balanced plain weave, two-faced supp. weft brocading, three pieces joined with hand-stitching, ends hand-hemmed, head hole cut out, embroidered.
Donor:
Janet Tellefsen
Collection place:
Quetzaltenango, Quetzaltenango Department, Guatemala
Verbatim coll. place:
Quezaltenango
Culture or time period:
K'iche'
Collector:
Thomas Whittaker
Collection date:
late 1960s-1976
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Huipils
Function:
2.0 Use not specified (Secular Dress and Accoutrements, and Adornment)
Production date:
1930s
Accession date:
March 1, 1989
Department:
Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean area
Dimensions:
width 127 centimeters and length 94 centimeters
Comment:
Embroidered : "vines" in yellow and magenta silk floss "climb" up where pieces are joined, front, back and sides: white on white supp. weft cotton is cut at each end creating "tufts;" embroidery has characteristic motifs of other Quezaltenango ceremonial huipil with birds at top of geometric "tree;" horizontal supp. weft at middle in lavender and yellow approx. 1" wide; while Rowe writes that a similar huipil is treadle-loomed in Totonicapan (fig. 94), Bird and O'Neale (129) classify it as backstop-loomed; purple and yellow characteristic colors of wedding huipiles from Quezaltenango; originally purple dye from mollusk, purpura spatula, was used; now this is imitated with and aniline product from Germany (Bird 35); called madrina or comadre costume. "This huipil is worn over the head with only the face showing. It has been suggested that this way of wearing the huipil arose in Colonial times as a means of complying with the requirement that a woman's head be covered in church (Bird 28). Arriola de Geng agrees with Rowe; thinks purple yarn is hilo de Nicoya (Arriola de Geng) Similar textiles available in 1992 (Schevill).
Loans:
S2008-2009 #4: Margaret E. Geiss-Mooney (July 25, 2008–September 1, 2008)
Images:
Hearst Museum object 1 of 4 titled Huipil, accession number 3-29747, described as Backstrap- or treadle-loomed, balanced plain weave, two-faced supp. weft brocading, three pieces joined with hand-stitching, ends hand-hemmed, head hole cut out, embroidered.Hearst Museum object 2 of 4 titled Huipil, accession number 3-29747, described as Backstrap- or treadle-loomed, balanced plain weave, two-faced supp. weft brocading, three pieces joined with hand-stitching, ends hand-hemmed, head hole cut out, embroidered.Hearst Museum object 3 of 4 titled Huipil, accession number 3-29747, described as Backstrap- or treadle-loomed, balanced plain weave, two-faced supp. weft brocading, three pieces joined with hand-stitching, ends hand-hemmed, head hole cut out, embroidered.Hearst Museum object 4 of 4 titled Huipil, accession number 3-29747, described as Backstrap- or treadle-loomed, balanced plain weave, two-faced supp. weft brocading, three pieces joined with hand-stitching, ends hand-hemmed, head hole cut out, embroidered.
Legacy documentation:
Documentation associated with Hearst Museum object titled Huipil, accession number 3-29747, described as Backstrap- or treadle-loomed, balanced plain weave, two-faced supp. weft brocading, three pieces joined with hand-stitching, ends hand-hemmed, head hole cut out, embroidered.

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