The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Mummy Bundle "Mask"

200–1 BCE

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

cotton and pigment, plain weave
Overall: 66 x 20.9 x 3.8 cm (26 x 8 1/4 x 1 1/2 in.)
The Norweb Collection 1940.516
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 buried their dead in pear-shaped mummy bundles, created by carefully wrapping the seated human body in layers of garments and other textiles. Sometimes a painted cloth was placed on the outer layer at the top of the bundle, as though it served as the bundle’s face, head, or “mask.” Some cloths were painted with masklike faces, although others—such as this example—feature complete figures, which may be mythological beings with supernatural appendages.
  • ?-1940
    Emery May Holden Norweb [1895-1984] and Raymond Henry Norweb [1894-1983], Cleveland OH, 1940, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1940
    The Cleveland Museum of Art
  • Gallery 232-Andean Textile Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 28, 2019-November 9, 2020).
    Main Andes Rotation (Gallery 232); March 2013 - August 25, 2014.
    Andean Gallery 107 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 21, 2001-November 18, 2002).
    Ancient Peruvian Textiles. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 5-April 6, 1941).
  • {{cite web|title=Mummy Bundle "Mask"|url=false|author=|year=200–1 BCE|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1940.516