Guatemalan Ikat Perraje

This is a Guatemalan ikat perraje that was woven out of cotton in the 20th century. It is a very colorful shawl, similar to Mexican rebozos. The main color is an indigo dyed blue and the pattern is made up of breakout lines of red, green, white, black, and yellow in stripes, squares and arrows. The maker also wove the word “recuerdo” into the pattern four times, which means “memory” or “I remember.” This example is a bit smaller than perraje in, for example, the Cooper Hewitt’s collection, so it’s possible that it may have been made for decoration instead of use.  The lettering is mirrored halfway through the textile, however, so it seems most likely that it was meant to be draped so all of the lettering was legible in whatever way it was used.