The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of May 21, 2025
Mummy Bundle "Mask"
170 BCE–70 CE (radiocarbon date, 95% probability)
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.- ?-1940Emery May Holden Norweb [1895-1984] and Raymond Henry Norweb [1894-1983], Cleveland OH, 1940, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
- Frame, Mary. “Cronología de los fardos funerarios de Wari Kayan, Paracas Necrópolis.” Hilos del pasado: el aporte francés al legado Paracas. Lima: Instituto Nacional de Cultura, 2007. 35, 43, 46
- {{cite web|title=Mummy Bundle "Mask"|url=false|author=|year=170 BCE–70 CE (radiocarbon date, 95% probability)|access-date=21 May 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1940.522