Mummy Bundle "Mask"
Unknown Artist
200–1 BCE
Medium
plain warp-faced cloth, painted: cotton
Dimensions
{"overall":{"height":0.483,"width":0.183}}
Classification
Textile
Department
Textiles
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
The Norweb Collection
Accession Number
1940.520
About this artwork
This mummy bundle was likely found on mummy bundles made of a seated human body carefully wrapped in textiles. In some instances, the Paracas people placed a painted cloth like these at the top of the bundle. The cloth was padded on the back so it curved outward like a face, and the tress-like yarns (unwoven warps) at the upper edge were arranged around a solid cotton disk that, in turn, was wrapped with a headband. The cloths, then, seem to have functioned as the bundle’s face or mask.