The Royal Inca Tunic: A Biography of an Andean Masterpiece (Princeton University Press, 2024) by Andrew James Hamilton is the Winner of the R. L. Shep Memorial Book Award for books published in 2024. The award committee was unanimous in their praise for the book’s exceptional scholarship and groundbreaking research. The Shep award is given annually to the publication judged to be the best book of the year in the field of global cultural heritage textile studies.
The Royal Inca Tunic reconstructs the creation and afterlives of a five-hundred-year-old uncu, arguably the most celebrated Andean artwork in the world made famous through diverse theories such as those attempting to read its designs as a long-lost writing system. Hamilton challenges, illuminates, and rectifies previous (mis)interpretations of this enigmatic garment, presenting significant new findings about its manufacture from the initial process of spinning and dyeing fibers to the actual weaving and its colonial afterlives. The volume sets up new revelations chapter by chapter like a mystery novel unfolding. Drawing on detailed physical examinations of the tunic conducted over a decade, studies of colonial Peruvian manuscripts, and collection provenance research, Hamilton concludes that the textile was likely woven by two women, one more skilled than the other, probably for the last emperor of the Inca Empire on the eve of the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century. Recentering the importance of art historical analysis and the study of artworks in person rather than through photographs, he determines that the royal garment is unfinished and that the use of an unknown blue dye (“fugitive blue”) that has badly faded contributed to previous misinterpretations of the designs and color scheme. Besides Hamilton’s beautiful illustrations, his engaging writing style and conversational tone will appeal to specialists and non-specialists alike.
The R. L. Shep Memorial Book Award is given annually to the publication judged to be the best book of the year in the field of global cultural heritage textile studies. The award consists of a monetary award funded by an endowment established by R. L. Shep in 2000. The purpose of this award is to encourage the study and understanding of textile traditions by recognizing and rewarding exceptional scholarship that focuses on textiles through the lens of cultural practices and ancestral heritage. The endowment is administered by the Textile Society of America Board, which appoints the R. L. Shep Memorial Book Award Committee to evaluate nominated books.
By recognizing and rewarding exceptional scholarship that focuses on textiles through the lens of cultural practices and ancestral heritage, the Shep award aims to encourage the study and understanding of global textile traditions. The R. L. Shep Memorial Book Award Committee evaluated the nominated books based on the most successful balance of the two main criteria: bringing the highest standard of research and scholarship to a topic of significance to the field of global cultural heritage textile studies; and presenting its material in a manner that is accessible and engaging for the public as well as for textile scholars. The 2025 Book Award Committee members are Dr. Julia Hendon, Dr. Kaja McGowan, and Dr. Florina Capistrano-Baker (Chairperson).
For questions and further information about the award, please contact the TSA Awards Committee: Vandana Bhandari, Director of Awards and Scholarships (vb@vandanabhandari.com), or TSA Executive Director Ashley Occhino (director@textilesocietyofamerica.org).
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