European & Other Textiles

Linen grain sacks from around 1900, each stamped with its owner’s mark. European and other textiles here come from Europe, the Andes, the American Southwest and Papua New Guinea, with Aymara and Quechua weaving from Bolivia at the center. Awayo and lliclla, the women’s mantles used as shawls and carrying cloths, are woven in striped bands, and tari or incuna cloths held coca leaves for ritual use. A Chancay chuspa, a coca bag with a bird-motif strap from coastal Peru, dates to between 1000 and 1470 CE.

The grain bags are European linen, a Navajo fringed blanket is woven in wool, and a framed tapa dance skirt of pounded bark comes from the Musa River in Papua New Guinea. Small holiday stockings in suzani and Fortuny fabric fill the corners. Use a grain sack to cover a bench cushion, or hang an awayo over a stair rail. Linen and wool both wear well, and wear their history openly.