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Ceremonial Overblouse for a Cofradía

c.1940

Museo Ixchel del Traje Indígena

Museo Ixchel del Traje Indígena
Guatemala, Guatemala

The plain-weave base cloth was woven on a treadle or foot loom. The warp is white cotton while the weft is done in handspun natural brown cotton (cuyuscate). The use of the latter material was quite widespread at the time in many K'iche' towns such as: Totonicapán (Totonicapán), Nahualá (Sololá) and Chichicastenango (Quiché). It is a difficult fiber to work with, it was not commercially ginned or spun at the time and the short staple made it particularly difficult to spin. The embroidery is done mostly in cotton. The faded purple is a fugitive dye that was used in 1940s and 1950s (most likely logwood). This shade of purple was a popular color. All other embroidery threads are silk floss and mercerized cottons. The yoke design is similar to that of the overblouse / overhuipil from Santa María Chiquimula (Totonicapán)

Details

  • Title: Ceremonial Overblouse for a Cofradía
  • Date Created: c.1940
  • Location Created: Cantel, Quetzaltenango / Mayan language spoken in region: K'iche'
  • Type: Ceremonial overblouse
  • Photographer: Anne Girard
  • Original Source: http://www.museoixchel.org/
  • Rights: ©Museo Ixchel del Traje Indígena Photographic Archive
  • Medium: Cotton woven on footloom and hand embroidered

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