ID: 700000123 Page link: http://vocab.getty.edu/page/cona/700000123	Record Type: Movable Work
Images: 1 2

Inka All T'oqapu Tunic (tunic; unknown Inka, Late Horizon; 1440/1540 CE; Dumbarton Oaks (Washington, DC, United States); PC.B.518; B-518.PT )

Note: Tocapu are rows of complex geometric motifs. They covered the tunics of nobility and conveyed status; they also were probably pictographs. This tapestry tunic is one of the finest known Inka royal textiles. Typical of Inca tunics, it was woven as one long rectangle of cloth with a neck slit in the middle and then folded in half and the sides sewn up to the arm holes. It has warps of undyed cotton and wefts of dyed camelid fiber spun so fine and woven so tight that they number between 98 and 108 per centimeter. Textiles were valued more highly than gold in the Inka Empire, and much effort went into their production. Fine qompi cloth was the task of specialists, and the best cloth, used for royal and religious functions, was made by cloistered women known as acllacuna.Unlike other Inka tunics, this one is almost entirely covered with small rectangular geometric units called t'oqapu. Created in a variety of patterns and colors, t'oqapu may have held special meaning or significance. A common t'oqapu design, depicted here in alternating red and yellow, consists of a diagonal bar between two dots. Another is a miniature representation of a black-and-white checkerboard tunic with a red collar. Scholars suggest that individual t'oqapu may have represented specific peoples, places, or things, thus constituting a sign system akin to the knotted khipu cords that the Inkas used to record information. Garments bearing this design could thus communicate the status of their wearer and possibly other information as well. We know from historical sources that only persons of high rank were entitled to wear tunics decorated with t'oqapu, and most such tunics include only a limited number of them, clustered around the neck or waist of the garment. No other known tunic incorporates such a large number and variety of t'oqapu into its design. Possibly worn by the ruler himself, this all-t'oqapu tunic broadcast the message that he controlled enormous diversity and almost the totality of possible motifs in his clothing.

Titles:

Inka All T'oqapu Tunic (preferred,C,U,RP,English-P,U,U)

Tunic with Tocapu (Geometric Pictographs) (C,U,FO,undetermined,U,U)

Catalog Level: item

Work Types:

tunic [300209869] (preferred)

..... (Objects Facet, Furnishings and Equipment (hierarchy name), Costume (hierarchy name), costume (mode of fashion), clothing, main garments)

Classifications:

Pre-Columbian art (preferred)

textiles

costume / clothing

Creation Date: 1440/1540 CE

Creator Display:

unknown Inka, Late Horizon [preferred,VP]

weaver unknown Inca (Inca cultural designation) [500125282]

Locations:

Other: Creation: Perú [1000056] South America (continent), World (facet) (Geographic)

Current: Dumbarton Oaks (Washington, DC, United States) [500235090] Museums Harvard University, Harvard University, Corporate Bodies (Corp. Body)

Repository Numbers: PC.B.518; B-518.PT

Display Materials: wool, cotton

	cotton (textile) [300014067]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by form>, <materials by physical form>, <fiber and fiber by product>, <fiber by product>, textile materials, <textile materials by composition or origin>)

	wool (textile) [300243430]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by form>, <materials by physical form>, <fiber and fiber by product>, <fiber by product>, textile materials, <textile materials by composition or origin>)

	tapestry (process) [300061981]
	.......(Activities Facet, Processes and Techniques (hierarchy name), <processes and techniques by specific type>, <processes and techniques by material>, textile processes and techniques, <textile construction processes and techniques>, textile weaving processes and techniques)

Dimensions: 90.2 x 77.2 cm (35.5 x 30.4 inches)

Cultures:

Inca (preferred)

Style/Period/Group/Movement:

	Late Horizon [300017332] (preferred,N/A)
	.....(Styles and Periods Facet, Styles and Periods (hierarchy name), <styles| periods| and cultures by region>, Americas| The, Pre-Columbian (American), <Pre-Columbian South American styles and periods>, <Pre-Columbian Andean styles and periods>)

General Subject:

apparel (preferred,isness)

Specific Subjects:

	tocapu [300264871]
	.....(Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Information Forms (hierarchy name), information forms (objects), information artifacts, <information artifacts by physical form>) (AAT)

	pictograph [300124411]
	.....(Objects Facet, Components (hierarchy name), components (objects parts), <components by specific context>, information form components, <script and type forms>, script and type signs) (AAT)

	social status [300065206]
	.....(Associated Concepts Facet, Associated Concepts (hierarchy name), social science concepts, sociological concepts) (AAT)

Provenance: Acquired by Robert Woods Bliss ca.1950. Robert Woods Bliss Collection of Pre-Columbian Art, Washington, DC, 1950-1962. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Pre-Columbian Collection, Washington, DC.

List/Hierarchical Position:

..... Movable Works

.......... Movable Works by class: decorative and utilitarian works

Sources and Contributors:
Inka All T'oqapu Tunic	........ [VP]
	........ Dumbarton Oaks online (2002-) http://www.doaks.org/research/library-archives/dumbarton-oaks-archives/historical-records/75th-anniversary/images/PreColumbianTextile.jpg/view
Tunic with Tocapu (Geometric Pictographs)	........ [VP]
	........ Dumbarton Oaks online (2002-)

Subject: ....... [VP]

Note:
English	..... [VP]
	..... Dumbarton Oaks online (2002-) accessed 24 July 2005 & 13 March 2018