Throughout Peruvian prehistory, the tunic was the most elaborate
garment worn by men. In addition to being important items of
dress, tunics are significant for their technical variety and
their great wealth of complex patterning.This example is
strikingly bold in color. The main pattern, worked in red,
represents interconnected, geometricized animals, whose serrated
backs form strong diagonals across the body of the shirt. A
border at the lower edge of the tunic (and originally at the
sleeve ends as well), repeats a much smaller profile figure at
regular intervals. Its long upraised tail has monkey references,
but its long snout suggests that it is a composite animal. Such
change of scale and the stylization of imagery from the center
to the borders was common to textiles associated with the
Huarmey Valley at this time. This variety was stimulated by
external political and artistic forces as new influences moved
into the area.