Band (Headband?) (c. 650–850): Art, History and Details

Band (Headband?) (c. 650–850) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This jewel-like textile, perhaps the only one of its kind, is made from a single band accordion-folded to form tabs, each edged with lush red tassels. Repeated in different colors down its length is the image of a warrior who holds an axe in one hand and a jagged, club-like object in the other. The reversed orientation of several of the warriors may be the result of the weaving method.

Object facts

• Title: Band (Headband?)
• Date: c. 650–850
• Culture: Central Andes, Moche-Wari Style, mid-7th to mid-9th century
• Type: Textile
• Technique: Camelid fiber (alpaca; weft) and cotton (warp); tapestry weave
• Dimensions: Overall: 59.4 x 10.8 x 8.3 cm (23 3/8 x 4 1/4 x 3 1/4 in.)
• Collection: T - Pre-Columbian
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 2014.389

A detail from the museum

This unusual band may have been worn as a headband.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• “Exhibitions Through May 2022.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 62, no. 1: 8-9.
• Lavalle, José Antonio de. Huari: Culturas Precolombinas. Lima: Banco de Crédito del Peru, 1984.
• Bergh, Susan. “Acquisition Highlights 2014: Pre-Columbian and Native North American Art.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 55, no. 2 (March/April 2015): 12-13.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.