Cabildo Gravelot
The Cabildo gravelot is from an early European private collection. The gravelot consists of a large sampler and twenty-seven in process examples. Twelve of these are embroidery and fifteen cross-knit looping. “The large sampler retains all four selvages. Except for a few minor breaks, it is in excellent condition. Its six series of motifs, outlined in stem stitch and running parallel to the warp of the cloth. Three of the six series of motifs on the Cabildo sampler are the most complex Nasca design units known to be so recorded. Their composition was carefully planned and precisely executed using guidelines of running stitches that alternately pass over and under four threads as they define the length and width of the motif series.” Also in the gravelot is an “in-process mantle border is a double-faced embroidery in 6/4 interlocking stem stitch. It is worked on cloth of plain weave cotton dyed black measuring 132.5 x 6.125 inches. The in-process mantle border is the largest and most complex Nasca double-faced embroidery I know of. This iconographic unit had been plotted seven times and was being embroidered in a repeating series of four different color distributions when the project was set aside.”
Taken from the book, Early Nasca Needlework by Alan R. Sawyer. Sawyer was founding curator of Primitive Art at the Art Institute of Chicago, Director of The Textile Museum, Washington, D.C., and curated the 1968 Guggenheim exhibition of Peruvian art in New York. He is the author of several books.
Sampler
Master Border, Section One
Master Border, Section Two
Master Border, Section Three
Master Border, Section Four
Master Border, Section Five
Master Border, Section Six
Master Border, Section Seven
3, 4a, 4b
7, 5, 8a
9b, 6, 11
10
14
15
13, 12a, 12b
16
17, 18, 19, 20
21, 22, 23, 24
INDEX OF CABILDO GRAVELOT Pg 3:
Cabildo Sampler, 108.5 x 60.5 cm
Pgs 4,5,6,7,8,9,10: Master Border, 336.4 x 15.6 cm Pg 11:
No 3, ten whiskered deities, 336.6 x 7.5 cm Figure 77, page 109, Early Nasca Needlework Ten whiskered deities alternately face right and left. Black embroidery on an orange-tan cotton band. The other hand holds a spondylus pendant and beheading knife. No 4a, nine repeats of 20.5/22 cm on 190.2 x 7.6 cm No 4b, five repeats of 21.5/22 cm on 108.8 x 7.0 cm Figure 95, page 128, Early Nasca Needlework In-process sections of an embroidered mantle border featuring whiskered deity alternating in orientation (glide symmetry), The stalk of a yucca plant protrudes to the left from the deity’s head, and it’s tri-lobed roots extends to the right over its mantle. The deity holds a digging stick to the front of both hands. A saw-toothed-edged streamer emerges from below the chin and extends forward, ending in a stylized otter had with its tongue touching the tail of a small condor figure with wings swept forward. A larger dorsal streamer emerges from beneath the deity’s mantle and ends beneath its feet in an otter head with tongue extended between its paws. The center of this saw-toothed streamer is filled with conventionalized spondylus pendants. Both in process mantle border sections share the same iconography and sequences of four color shifts, but their unequal proportions, though slight, ruled out their use on the same mantle.
Pg 12:
No 7, band with abstract fish in glide symmetry, 175.5 x 1.2 cm Figure 100, page 133, Early Nasca Needlework A narrow band with abstract fish in glide symmetry and featuring many different colors in a repeating sequence of eleven combinations. The function of this unusually long, narrow band is not apparent. No 5, seven profile birds holding food in their beaks, 247.1 x 2.4 cm Figure 97, page 130, Early Nasca Needlework An in-process embroidered narrow band featuring a series of seven profile birds holding foods in their beaks. The pale blue-green cotton band displays eighteen profile birds alternating in glide symmetry. They consist of two repeats of a seven-bird series plus four of a third. The birds’ legs are shown in running position and each holds a fruit, vegetable, or insect in its beak. The birds are outlined in 4/2 stem stitch with dark blue camelid wool thread.
No 8a, L-band with pairs of beans, 168.5 x 1.6 cm long side, 28.5 cm short side Figure 101, page 135, Early Nasca Needlework A narrow L-shaped band 1.6 cm wide. Together they are embroidered with forty-two pairs of jack beans in a non-repeating sequence of color combinations on a red ground No 8b, band with pairs of beans Not illustrated Displays three and a half pairs of embroidered jack beans alternating in orientation. Red embroidery covers the brown cotton ground cloth at its square end only. Pg 13:
No 9b, L-band with sprouting beans, long side of 153.8 x 3.2 cm and 2 short sides of 20.3 and 19 cm x 3.2 cm Figure 101, page 135, Early Nasca Needlework Narrow cotton band embroidered in stem stitch with camelid yearns featuring sprouting jack beans. Inner edges are reinforced with a single row of cross-looped stitch that supports tabs constructed in simple looping. No. 9a, L shaped band, spouting beans, 142.2 long side x 20.3 short side x 2.9 cm width Not illustrated. Figure 101, page 135, Early Nasca Needlework Narrow cotton band embroidered in stem stitch with camelid yarns featuring sprouting jack beans. Inner edges are reinforced with a single row of cross-looped stitch that supports tabs constructed in simple looping. No 6, band with vencejos. The birds are depicted from above. 87 x 1.3 cm Figure 98, page 130, Early Nasca Needlework This tan cotton band was not completely woven and the loose warps were tied together. The woven portion is embroidered with forty-two vencejos (goatsuckers) as seen from the top with wings spread and legs extended forward. They are divided into seven series of five birds each by a repeating sequence of color combinations. The remaining seven are rendered in black outline only, the first and last of these embroidered in different yarns by a less experienced hand. No 11, band with variety of birds, 176.3 x 1.6 cm Figure 107, page 140, Early Nasca Needlework Straight brown cotton band is partially covered by twenty-six cross-knit looped birds against a red ground. All twenty-six birds are different, ranging from hummingbirds to large birds of prey.
Pg 14:
No 10, neck slit with tubular cross-knit looping, 38.7 x 3.5 cm Figure 104, page 139, Early Nasca Needlework This in-process neckband of plain-weave red cotton cloth is embellished at each end with a shaman figure bending forward holding a fan in its right hand and a forehead ornament in its left. (The identification of the figure as a shaman is based on the emaciated body and skull-like face.) The neckband is accompanied by a thorn needle and embroidery yarns of various colors. An unidentified element consisting of what appears to be tail feathers is partly begun above each of the end figures. The condition is excellent and the cross-knit looping so extraordinarily fine that the figure is only slightly geometricized. No 14, cross-knit lopped humming bird, 79.4 x 1.1 cm Figure 109, page 142, Early Nasca Needlework A single in-process cross-knit looped hummingbird decorates the end of a tan cotton band. No 15, two humming birds, 8.9 x 11.24 cm Figure 110, page 142, Early Nasca Needlework A short band has been embellished with two hummingbirds, one missing part of its beak. The central portion of a third has been completed on the band but lacks the tail and head assemblage.
Pg 15:
No 13, L-band with toucan-like birds Figure 108, page 141, Early Nasca Needlework A cross-knit border, squared to fit the corner of a rectangular garment. It features toucan-like birds with long curved beaks, alternating in glide symmetry in a sequene of four color combinations. Attached to a portion of one of the two short, angled end pieces is an inner border of nine tabs in the form of three-dimensional flowers with prominent stamens. No 12a, U-band with humming birds and flowers, 147.6 x 0.9 cm on long side, 17 x 9 cm on short side Figure 106, page 140, Early Nasca Needlework in-process narrow border features hummingbirds and flowers alternating in glide symmetry. 12a is squared on both ends to fit the corner of a rectangular garment with fifteen flower tabs on one short corner joining three on the length of the border. No. 12b, U-band with birds, 126 x 1.2 cm Figure 105, page 140, Early Nasca Needlework Narrow, in-process border features humminbirds and flowers alternating in glide symmetry.
Pg 16:
Pg 17:
No 16, twelve hummingbirds, 6.4 x 14 cm Figure 111, page 142, Early Nasca Needlework This short band has seven complete hummingbirds, one lacking its beak, plus five lacking their tails. All are connected by a narrow central band. All birds face the same direction and are complete on both sides. It would appear that the twelve birds on this band repeat in a sequence of ten color combinations. No 17, figure with fan and baton, 5.4 x 1.9 cm Figure 112, page 143, Early Nasca Needlework A small human figure holds a fan in front of its face in its right hand and a baton in its left. The hair fringe is partly missing. No 18, figure without arms, 8.9 x 2.5 cm Figure 112, page 143, Early Nasca Needlework Arms remain to be attached to this human figure with a green body and red lower face and toes. No 19, figure without legs, 6.0 x 6.4 cm Figure 112, page 143, Early Nasca Needlework This in-process human figure has stepped face marking and large red hands with black fingertips. A cotton cord below the waist indicates the legs in process. No 20, mirror image fab tab, 5 x 4.7 cm Figure 113, page 143, Early Nasca Needlework The face is divided by a center line and stepped horizontal. Quadrants starting with the upper Left: red, blue, gold and green, with features indicated by black and white. No 21, mirror image face tab, 4.4 x 4.1 cm Figure 113, page 143, Early Nasca Needlework A head quartered in dark green and red with white eyes, mouth and quartering lines. No 22, mirror image face tab, 3.2 x 3.5 cm Figure 113, page 143, Early Nasca Needlework A face with stepped white line dividing the red upper and blue lower halves. No 23, face tab, red, 3.2 x 3.5 cm Figure 113, page 143, Early Nasca Needlework Red face with black eyebrows and outline of white eyes and mouth. No 24, face tab, halved , 2.5 x 1.4 cm Figure 113, page 143, Early Nasca Needlework Small frontal face divided by a white line and blue above and red eyes; red chin with black outlined teeth.