Mummy Bundle "Mask"
Unknown Artist
200–1 BCE
Medium
plain warp-faced cloth, painted: cotton
Dimensions
{"overall":{"height":0.25,"width":0.145}}
Classification
Textile
Department
Textiles
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
The Norweb Collection
Accession Number
1940.526
About this artwork
The Paracas people of Peru's south coast buried their dead in pear-shaped mummy bundles made of a seated human body carefully wrapped in garments and other textiles. Sometimes a painted cloth was placed at the top of the bundle, as if serving as the bundle's face, head, or "mask." 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. Some cl...