The Andean Tunic, 400 BCE-1800 CE April 7, 2011

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present a special exhibition focusing on the Andean tunic, featuring about 30 tunics drawn from the Museum's collection, as well as loans from the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C., and a private collection. For the peoples of Andean South America, the tunic was the salient element of male dress from Precolumbian times until well after the Spanish conquest of the early 16th century. They were markers of place, status, and wealth. Varying in style, shape, color, and pattern, they were elaborately embellished over the centuries.