Gift of Ernest Erickson

Gift of Jack Lenor Larsen

Wig headdress consisting of a cap made by simple looping of cotton (white) and undyed camelid fibers (natural browns). Thin braids of human hair are attached to and hang from the cap, and are decorated at the lower ends with red, white, yellow/gold, and blue dyed camelid fibers that are wrapped aound each braid. Wig headdresses have been found in association with mummy bundles of elite Wari state representatives buried along the desert coast. They would have been placed on top of the false head of a mummy bundle (Rebecca Stone-Miller, To Weave for the Sun. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Thames and Hudson, 1992). Size: adult. Probable wearer: female or undetermined. Hat: camelid fiber, simple looping. Braiding: human hair. Camelid fiber wrapping.

Braided, dark haired wig. Band of woven yarn, in pink, red, yellow and green, across width of wig. Sewn together near top, raw edges. String at top.

Wig of black, curly human hair, sprinkled with yellow powder, stretched out on wooden sticks. Wig is oval in shape and has a broad, flat top.

Fifteen long tapering braids of black hairs twined together with a black cord at the thicker ends of the braids. Three cords extend from the twining and are joined together. Near the top is blue synthetic yarn twining the braids together. The tapered ends of the braids are unfastened.

A fitted rounded dark brown twisted fibre cord and bead cap. One side is thickly woven with a pattern of diagonal rows formed by long loops pressed together to create depth. Side is topped by braided grass(?) band. From this, lengths of fine twisted fibre cord (some broken away) join this side to a thick woven fibre side with beads: cotton(?) cord tied on to weaving brought through to the top and short ends strung with various-sized red beads. Dark blue beads, and white and blue-striped beads strung at cap's top. Rim is length of twisted cord wrapped around circumference.

A wig with the hair secured by being knotted into a woven grass cap. Hair is brown with short curls overall.

Short wig made up of brown curly human hair (part a); an interior net of red yarn and plain cord holds the shape of the wig. Back edge of wig is decorated with a band of white feathers; front left and right corners of wig are decorated with small yellow flowers. Wig has six attachments, consisting of: a red parrot on a stick, that attaches to the top (part b); brown-black and white feathered wings, that attach at the front (part c); a spray of multi-coloured parrot feathers, that attach to the front of the wings (part d); two small white and yellow feathers, that stick out on either side of the wig (parts e-f); and a snake skin headband (part g). Large feather decorations (parts c-d) are missing attachments; small feathers are inserted into wig and held in place with their shafts. Headband has two ties on either side.