Fragment of Mantle or Poncho

Item number 1997.56.2 from the Brooklyn Museum.

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Description

Border fragment woven in camelid fiber with camelid embroidery. The imagery stands out against the light tan plain weave background. Represented are two figures with monkey feet, serrated legs, and a feline mask. The figures float in reverse directions and hold streamers of beans and staffs decorated with tuber-like plants. A border of this type would have been part of a mantle or poncho.

Credit Line

Gift of Morris de Camp Crawford, Jr.

Label

The elaborate anthropomorphic figures depicted on this fragment, termed Plant Beings by scholars, combine human appendages with monkey feet; a bird wing at the back; and the whiskers and stripes of the pampas cat. Each figure holds a staff in one hand and a vine of beans in the other. Sprouting seeds and plants emanating from serpent-headed streamers refer to fertility and rebirth. The streamers, which flow from the mouth, head, and wing of each figure, may be interpreted as blood, a symbol of life and death.

Las elaboradas figuras antropomórficas representadas en este fragmento, llamadas Seres Vegetales por académicos, combinan extremidades humanas con pies de mono; alas de pájaro en sus espaldas; y los bigotes y rayas del gato de las pampas. Cada figura sostiene un bastón en una mano y una rama de frijoles en la otra. Los brotes y plantas que emanan de volutas con cabezas de serpientes aluden a la fertilidad y al renacimiento. Las volutas, que fluyen de las bocas, cabezas y alas de cada figura pueden ser interpretadas como sangre, símbolo de vida y muerte.

Item History

Made between 101 BCE and 200

What

Name: Fragment of Mantle or Poncho
Identification Number: 1997.56.2
Type of Item: fragment, poncho and or
Material: camelid fiber
Measurements: “4 5/8 x 22 1/2 in. (11.7 x 57.2 cm) Other: 10 x 28in. (25.4 x 71.1cm)” ?