Pinotepa de Don Luis huipil, Oaxaca, Mexico.

This huipil was hand woven on a back-strap loom in three white cotton panels joined by hand embroidered decorative seams. These panels feature supplementary brocade decorations of women and unusual geometric patterns. The most unique feature of this huipil is that the purple brocade thread is murex (sea snail) dyed – “the royal purple”. Our correspondent at the Oaxaca Textile Museum says, “this type [of Pinotepa de Don Luis huipil] was developed in the 1980s-1990s for the folk art trade.” It is in like new condition. It was acquired from the collection of Yuri Saldyt. W 90 x L 118 cm. (16-135) $320. OBO

Correction. "The purple dye on the huipil from Pinotepa Nacional is NOT Murex but Plicopurpura pansa, a snail found only in the tropical Pacific coast, from southernmost Baja California to northernmost Peru. Murex is the Mediterranean snail that was used for the same purpose by the ancient Phoenicians and Romans.