Paracas Necropolis "linear". <em>Mantle?, Fragment or Textile Fragment, Unidentified</em>, 100 B.C.E.-100 C.E. Cotton, camelid fiber, 64 3/16 x 30 5/16 in.  (163 x 77 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Alfred W. Jenkins Fund, 34.1586. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 34.1586_detail_SL1.jpg)

Mantle?, Fragment or Textile Fragment, Unidentified

Artist:Paracas Necropolis

Medium: Cotton, camelid fiber

Geograhical Locations:

Dates:100 B.C.E.-100 C.E.

Dimensions: 64 3/16 x 30 5/16 in. (163 x 77 cm)

Collections:

Accession Number: 34.1586

Image: 34.1586_detail_SL1.jpg,

Catalogue Description:
Size: adult; probable wearer: male. The plain weave dark blue field has a horizontal camelid fiber warp and weft. Camelid fiber embroidery in red, dark blue, yellow and green is used for the designs. The lack of any indication of borders suggests that this textile may have been used as a headdress. The abstract design represents a smaller cat in outline, which is nested within a larger elongated cat figure; the cat tails end in a distinctive triangular shape. Filler figures are small cats. Several pieces in the collection have the same feline figure on the borders (34.1555 and 34.1591). A variant of this back-to-back feline figure occurs on a mantle in the collection (34.1584), where it repeats in paired bands; however the tail terminates in the complete body of a small cat, rather than in a triangular shape. A looped headband (34.1596) also has a design which represents a similar feline figure.

Brooklyn Museum