Collection record · Dress & textiles
Tunic
The collection record classifies this work as textile. It is dated 400–200 BCE. Recorded culture or place: Peru, South Coast, Ica Valley, Ocucaje site?, Paracas people.
Explore the object recordOBJECT RECORD
A closer look at the details.
- Museum title
- Tunic
- Date
- 400–200 BCE
- Culture / origin
- Peru, South Coast, Ica Valley, Ocucaje site?, Paracas people
- Materials and technique
- looped camelid fiber
- Dimensions
- Average: 94 x 82.6 cm (37 x 32 1/2 in.)
- Artist / maker
- Not specified by the museum
- Museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession number
- 1940.514
FROM THE MUSEUM
In the museum’s words
The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.
The striking, large-scale figure shown on this tunic has an elaborate, monkey-like tail as well as head appendages that mark the creature as supernatural. This tunic, a relatively rare type, was made not on a loom but rather by working the yarns into loops with a needle. It is made entirely with camelid fiber, which can readily be dyed in a range of vivid colors. The fiber comes from one of the four camels (camelids) native to the Andes Mountains—the alpaca and llama, both domesticated, and the wild guanaco and vicuña. On the coast, it represents a prestige import.
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Text and image sources
The Cleveland Museum of Art · The Norweb Collection · CC0
The summary is based on public collection data. Refer to the museum’s latest record for the title, date and attribution.
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