Votive Checkerboard Tunic 1460-1626 Inca This small tapestry-woven tunic features a checkerboard pattern with a red V-shaped yoke. Although the design follows the conventions of full-sized garments thought to be associated with the Inca military, its scale suggests that it was destined to adorn a votive figure, a custom practiced in both Inca and colonial Spanish contexts. According to the Spanish chronicler Juan de Betanzos, the Inca dressed certain sacred statues, sometimes the size of a child, in finely woven garments. Miniature checkerboard tunics, smaller than the present example, have been found with small gold, silver, and shell figurines as part of capac hucha or ritual obligation” offerings, a type of ritual practice designed to extend and unite the vast landscape of the Inca Empire. Despite its smaller scale, this garment includes all of the fine detailing of its full-size counterparts. The checkerboard design is on front and back, inside and out, with meticulously embroider