Mantle

CULTURE Paracas Necropolis "linear"

MEDIUM Camelid fiber

Place Found: South Coast, Peru

DATES 100 B.C.E.–100 C.E.

PERIOD Early Horizon Period 10 to Early Intermediate Phase Period 1

DIMENSIONS 140 9/16 (incl. fringes) x 64 15/16 in. (357.0 x 165.0 cm)  (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Arts of the Americas

ACCESSION NUMBER 34.1559

CREDIT LINE Alfred W. Jenkins Fund

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION This mantle would have been worn or used by an adult male. It is constructed of a plain weave dark blue horizontal camelid fiber warp and weft field and camelid fiber stem stitch, rectilinearly worked one-faced embroidery decorated red plain weave border. This textile has been reshaped in order to flatten it. Three corners have been slit and the fringe moved at one of them. In the lower left field, in order to cover the newly formed field's edge, the crossed looping was removed, the fringe freed, and restitched on the border edge (NK). From Mary Frame's notes: Color blocks in the field are based on the consistent coloration of two nested outlines of the serpentine body, and on the borders are based on the consistent coloration of three nested outlines. There is a symmetrical deviation on the border where in two cases the coloration of the nested outlines inside is reversed. The nested figures have snake bodies and human heads with cat filler figures; multiple figures are nested within the outline of "linear"' style figures. The total number of field figures equal 262 whole figures and 96 partial figures; the total number of textile figures is 268 whole figures and 108 partial figures. In the field, the colors line up as three monocolors on the Z diagonal. This mantle is exceptionally regular in its lay-out and color patterning. A singular deviation from the pattern occurs in the paired band on the right side of the field. One less figure is incorporated in each of the pair. The mantle also has more paired bands in the field than any other in the sample located so far. Two other mantles in the Brooklyn Museum collection have the same paired band format and the same figure (34.1552 and 32.106). A poncho (34.1582), two headbands (34.1597 and X2000.1032), and a mantle with a plain field (34.1551) also have the same figure. The main variations among this group are: the number of paired bands in the field, the number of colored outlines in border and field figures, the slant (S or Z) of the serpentine bodies, and the number and completeness of the color blocks. The border figures are Z-slanted and the field figures are S-slanted. The number, color and slant attributes of the repeating figures can also be applied to the structure of cords, which the interlocked figures resemble. See "The Visual Images of Fabric Structures in Ancient Peruvian Art" by Mary Frame (The Junius B. Bird Conference on Andean Textiles, April 7th and 8th, 1984, ed. Ann Pollard Rowe, pp. 47-80. Washington, D.C.: Textile Museum, 1886) for a discussion of imagery related to the structures of cloth and cords. Most "linear" embroideries of this type have a dark blue field with predominantly red embroidery. A smaller number have a different color scheme. Similar textiles may be found in the collection of the Museo Nacional de Antropologia y Arqueologia de Lima, and they are a headband from bundle (401); a skirt (421-49); a mantle (421-4) and a poncho (421-44); in the collection of the United Nations, New York; and in the Boston Museum of Art (1972.353).

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

CAPTION Paracas Necropolis "linear". Mantle, 100 B.C.E.–100 C.E. Camelid fiber, 140 9/16 (incl. fringes) x 64 15/16 in. (357.0 x 165.0 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Alfred W. Jenkins Fund, 34.1559. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 34.1559_acetate_bw.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 34.1559_acetate_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph

RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

RECORD COMPLETENESS