Object Image

Four-Cornered Hat

Finely woven, brightly colored hats, customarily featuring a square crown, four sides, and four pointed tips, are most frequently associated with two ancient cultures of the Andes: the Wari and the Tiwanaku. The Wari Empire dominated the south-central highlands and the west coastal regions of what is now Peru from 500–1000 A.D. The Tiwanaku occupied the altiplano (high plain) directly south of Wari-populated areas around the same time, including territory now part of the modern country of Bolivia. The cultures not only developed and flourished as contemporaries, but also occupied adjacent lands for nearly four centuries. A Wari ceremonial center called Cerro Baúl was located a mere five miles f...
7th-9th century
Camelid hair
4.5in
1994.35.137
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Permanent collection