HESCAH Lecture | Dr. Andrew James Hamilton "The Royal Inca Tunic: A Biography of an Ancient Andean Masterpiece"

The most famous work of Andean art in the world is an enigmatic tunic in the collection of Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, DC. Thought to be the only surviving royal vestment of the Inca Empire, it has spawned controversial theories that its intricate patterns are a long-lost writing system. For over a decade, Andrew James Hamilton has conducted careful physical studies of this rare, royal, and radiant object. In this talk, he will offer an entirely new understanding of the familiar object by piecing together its remarkable life history: from its arduous facture some 500 years ago, to its reappearance in the mid-twentieth century, and its cultural significance in the present day. Sharing insights from his new book of the same name, published by Princeton University Press in 2024, Hamilton reveals for the first time that the extraordinary textile is an unfinished masterpiece that was likely being woven by two women on the eve of the Spanish invasion. An eyewitness to the horrors of colonialism and a testament to the highest echelon of Indigenous art of the Americas, the tunic has earned an important place in the canon of art history.