Tela de Cofradía- Ceremonial cloth: Backstrap-loomed, balanced plain weave, two-faced supp. weft brocading, one piece, cut warps at each end create two fringes.
Donor:
Janet Tellefsen
Collection place:
Quetzaltenango Department, Guatemala
Verbatim coll. place:
Quezaltenango, Quezaltenango
Culture or time period:
K'iche'
Collector:
Thomas Whittaker
Collection date:
late 1960s-1976
Materials:
Alizarin (natural colorant), Cotton (textile), and Silk floss
Object type:
ethnography
Function:
2.4 Fine Clothes and Accoutrements not used exclusively for status or religious purposes
Production date:
1930-1940
Accession date:
March 1, 1989
Department:
Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean area
Dimensions:
length 127 centimeters and width 94 centimeters
Comment:
MATERIALS, TECHNIQUES: White cotton singles in warp. Singles and 2 singles in weft. Brocading appears in 5 singles cotton and silk floss in magenta, yellow, green and white. Widely spaced warps give and openwork effect and alternates every 1/2" with three bands of two single wefts to create a ribbed look. Geometric wefts at both ends of piece constitute approximately 1/3 of area. Knotted red wefts at either end of geometric area makes a raised dotted look. Red is the predominant weft color. Fringes at ends are macramed and are up to six inches long. Tuck in plain weave at midway point, hand stitched with white yarn. Native name and meaning: Tela de Cofradía- Ceremonial cloth. CONTEXT OF USE: Dating relates to colors used (Arriola de Geng). Red dye is alizarin (Carlsen). CONSERVATION: Good. Some threadbare areas and brown stains (Wendy Berkelman)