Mummy Bundle "Mask"

200–1 BCE

Peru, South Coast, Ica Valley, Ocucaje site, Paracas style

(700 BCE–1 CE)

Medium

plain warp-faced cloth, painted: cotton

Measurements

Overall: 61 x 21.6 cm (24 x 8 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

The Norweb Collection 1940.519

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

These masks fall into two categories, those with only a face and those with a full-bodied figure.

Description

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 though it served 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 cloths were painted with mask-like faces, and others with full figures, apparently mythical creatures.