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Hat

Tiwanaku four-cornered hat
AD 600–1000
Chimbote, Peru
Alpaca wool, dye
22/3722

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    • Architectural and ceramics illustrations make it clear that four-cornered pile-weave hats were worn by high-ranking men of the Tiwanaku and Huarí cultures. The imagery on these hats is complex and varied, but persistently geometric. The richly colored, gridded designs may represent cosmograms, geometric symbols of spiritual beliefs.

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    Huari warrior figure

    Huarí warrior figure (AD 650–900) depicting man wearing four-cornered hat. The Glassell Collection. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Gift of Alfred C. Glassell, Jr.

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