Royal Inca Tunic - A Biography of an Andean Masterpiece

The hidden life of the greatest surviving work of Inca artThe most celebrated Andean artwork in the world is a five-hundred-year-old Inca tunic made famous through theories about the meanings of its intricate designs, including attempts to read them as a long-lost writing system. But very little is really known about it. The Royal Inca Tunic reconstructs the history of this enigmatic object, presenting significant new findings about its manufacture and symbolism in Inca visual culture. Andrew James Hamilton draws on meticulous physical examinations of the garment conducted over a decade, wide-ranging studies of colonial Peruvian manuscripts, and groundbreaking research into the tunic's provenance. He methodically builds a case for the textile having been woven by two women who belonged to the very highest echelon of Inca artists for the last emperor of the Inca Empire on the eve of the Spanish invasion in 1532. Hamilton reveals for the first time that this imperial vestment remains unfinished and has suffered massive dye fading that transforms its appearance today, and he proposes a bold new conception of what this radiant masterpiece originally looked like. Featuring stunning photography of the tunic and Hamilton's own beautiful illustrations, The Royal Inca Tunic demonstrates why this object holds an important place in the canon of art history as a deft creation by Indigenous women artists, a reminder of the horrors of colonialism, and an emblem of contemporary Andean identity.

About the author

Andrew James Hamilton is associate curator of Arts of the Americas at the Art Institute of Chicago and a lecturer in the Department of Art History at the University of Chicago. He is the author and illustrator of Scale & the Incas (Princeton).

Additional text

"This extensive analysis of the textile, the methods, the time of making and the underlying meaning sets a new standard for understanding this relic of a lost empire."---Michael F. Rohde, HALI Magazine

Product details

• Authors: Andrew James Hamilton
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 14.05.2024
• EAN: 9780691256955
• ISBN: 978-0-691-25695-5
• No. of pages: 344
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Art history; Latin America, Theory of art, ART / Techniques / General, ART / History / General, Decorative arts, ART / Criticism & Theory, DESIGN / Fashion & Accessories, ART / Caribbean & Latin American, DESIGN / Textile & Costume, DESIGN / Decorative Arts, History of art / art & design styles, History of Art, Art techniques & principles, History of fashion, Latin America – Mexico, Central America, South America, History of the Americas, Fashion and textile design, The Arts: techniques and principles, History of the Americas: pre-Columbian period, Pre-Columbian America, HISTORY / Latin America / Pre-Columbian Era, Inca Empire / Inca civilisations