Wig Headdress
Arts of the Americas
MEDIUM
Cotton, camelid fiber, human hair, bast fiber
DATES
600–1000
PERIOD
Middle Horizon Period
DIMENSIONS
35 13/16 x 8 3/4 x 2 1/2 in. (91 x 22.2 x 6.4 cm)
(show scale)
ACCESSION NUMBER
41.427
CREDIT LINE
Henry L. Batterman Fund
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
Wig headdress consisting of a cap made by simple looping of cotton (white) and undyed camelid fibers (natural browns). Thin braids of human hair are attached to and hang from the cap, and are decorated at the lower ends with red, white, yellow/gold, and blue dyed camelid fibers that are wrapped aound each braid.
Wig headdresses have been found in association with mummy bundles of elite Wari state representatives buried along the desert coast. They would have been placed on top of the false head of a mummy bundle (Rebecca Stone-Miller, To Weave for the Sun. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Thames and Hudson, 1992).
Size: adult. Probable wearer: female or undetermined. Hat: camelid fiber, simple looping. Braiding: human hair. Camelid fiber wrapping.
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Coastal Wari. Wig Headdress, 600–1000. Cotton, camelid fiber, human hair, bast fiber, 35 13/16 x 8 3/4 x 2 1/2 in. (91 x 22.2 x 6.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Henry L. Batterman Fund, 41.427. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 41.427_PS6.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 41.427_PS6.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2012
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Creative Commons-BY
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