Alfred W. Jenkins Fund

Carll H. de Silver Fund

Textile fragment consisting of three embroidered birds with whiskers in blue, yellow, green, red, and beige on an olive green plain weave fabric. Size: undetermined or adult. Probable wearer: undetermined or male. Vertical camelid fiber warp. Camelid fiber weft. Camelid fiber embroidery. Plain weave. Iconography: birds with animal-like heads. (AR)

Size: undetermined or adult; probable wearer: undetermined or male. Vertical cotton warp, cotton weft. Camelid fiber embroidery in pink, blue, yellow, green, white. Plain weave. The iconography represented is of birds with backward turned heads. Similar fragments can be found in the collections of the Textile Museum (91.127) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (33.149.102).

This skirt was made for an adult male. The plain weave, dark blue background is woven with horizontal camelid fiber warps and camelid fiber wefts. Yellow, olive, red and dark green camelid fiber embroidery is used for the alternating colors in the border and the paired bands. Two 'sprang' ties are at each end of the skirt and terminate in long, bulky fringes. Crossed looping is employed at the edges and as the tassel holder (at the base of the fringe). The skirt is incomplete; the left and right sides have been cut but the embroidery area is complete. From Mary Frame's notes: Seven different figures alternate irregularly on the borders and in the paired bands, and it is unusual to have that many different figures represented on the same textile. They are felines and mythical figures, usually shown with a streamer emanating from each side of their heads and often ending with a trophy head being represented. The background color squares alternate regularly, and continuous color lines run on the S and Z slant diagonals. The embroidery style differs from the 3 styles described by Dwyer and Paul (linear, block color and broad line). Here the figures are presented in "silhouette" with little interior detailing other than facial features and pelt markings. One of the figures, the cat standing on two legs (a human stance), also appears on a fragment in the Brooklyn Museum collection (64.114.20).

Alfred W. Jenkins Fund

Carll H. de Silver Fund

A. Augustus Healy Fund

Size: adult. Probable wearer: male. Field: horizontal camelid fiber warp, camelid fiber weft, dark blue color. Border: horizontal cotton warp, cotton weft, red color. Camelid fiber embroidery. The cotton foundation fibers of the border are actively deteriorating. The plain weave field is constructed of two webs and the condition of the camelid foundation fibers in the center is slightly better than those of the border, but this area is also deteriorating. The mantle is wider than usual. (NK) Condition fair; complete but with losses. From Mary Frame's notes: This is a Paracas "double fish" mantle on which pairs of the same figure, probably a shark because of the gill lines behind the eyes, are tightly associated with a smaller version of the figure between them. The eyes are swiveled to show frontally, or from above. A possible mythological transformation from shark to human, or vice versa, is suggested because there are arms projecting from the bodies of the fish. Mary Frame attributes a reverse curve that is repeated on the crossed looping of the seam cover adjacent to the fringe as a probable double-headed serpent. The predatory nature of the shark and/or killer whale (sometimes referred to as "the master of fishes") is made very clear in images on other textiles that portray the predator biting off the leg of a fleeing human. Human counterparts of this imagery often carry knives and heads, seemingly equating predation and sacrifice. A matching poncho in the Brooklyn Museum collection (34.1583) displays the same iconography and similar colors. Other related textiles in the museum's collection are 34.1594 and 86.224.90.

Size: adult; probable wearer: male. The plain weave field is made up of a horizontal camelid fiber warp and camelid fiber weft. The border is made of a horizontal camelid fiber warp, camelid fiber weft and embroidery. The mantle consists of a black field with a narrow median band. The wide border represents sixteen double bird figures facing outward with the same image repeated within. The colors employed are dark blue, reddish-purple, dark green, and golden yellow with the fringes made of the same colors.