Peru, South Coast, Ica Valley, Ocucaje site, Paracas style / 200 BCE–1 CE
Mummy Bundle "Mask"
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Mummy Bundle "Mask" as textile (Peru, South Coast, Ica Valley, Ocucaje site, Paracas style · 200 BCE–1 CE).
These masks fall into two categories, those with only a face and those with a full-bodied figure.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this textile as plain warp-faced cloth, painted.
The museum's collection notes: 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.
FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
The Cleveland Museum of ArtMummy Bundle "Mask"Original explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.