Inka checkerboard tunics


It is thought that these tunics were made for soldiers and the checkered pattern camouflaged them into an indistinguishable mass.

Checkerboard tunics, Inka, camelid fiber, first tunic: c. 1400–1540, 88.3 x 80 cm (Dallas Museum of Art), second tunic: 16th century, 87 x 76.5 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art), both in the Golden Kingdoms exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art


Additional resources

Checkerboard tunic at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Checkerboard tunic at the Dallas Museum of Art

Learn more about Andean textiles from the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, from The Met

Read about another Inka tunic, the All-T’oqapu Tunic

 

Smarthistory images for teaching and learning:

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More Smarthistory images…

Cite this page as: Dr. Sarahh Scher and Dr. Steven Zucker, "Inka checkerboard tunics," in Smarthistory, October 4, 2022, accessed March 19, 2024, https://smarthistory.org/inka-checkerboard-tunics/.