Collection record · Dress & textiles
Two Textile Fragment with Fanged Heads
The collection record classifies this work as textile. It is dated 500–200 BCE. Recorded culture or place: Peru, South Coast, Ica Valley, Chavín style.
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A closer look at the details.
- Museum title
- Two Textile Fragment with Fanged Heads
- Date
- 500–200 BCE
- Culture / origin
- Peru, South Coast, Ica Valley, Chavín style
- Materials and technique
- cotton: plain weave patterned by fiber-wrapped warps and supplementary wefts
- Dimensions
- Overall: 112 x 61.2 cm (44 1/8 x 24 1/8 in.); Mounted: 123.8 x 72.4 cm (48 3/4 x 28 1/2 in.)
- Artist / maker
- Not specified by the museum
- Museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession number
- 1985.139
FROM THE MUSEUM
In the museum’s words
The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.
These two rare fragments of equal size and mounted side by side feature fanged heads connected by a fanged mouth band. Each band ascends as a column above a rectangular, disembodied eye that implies the original presence of large figures or heads beneath the bands. Fanged heads are common markers of the supernatural in Chavín art, an early style that developed in the highlands of Peru. The original textile may have served as a ceremonial wall hanging.
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Text and image sources
The Cleveland Museum of Art · John L. Severance Fund · 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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