Border Fragment (100 BCE-200 CE): Artwork and History

Border Fragment (100 BCE-200 CE) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Paracas South coast, Peru.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

The distinctive stylized figure depicted on this fragment has wide eyes and an upturned mouth, with streamers or appendages trailing from its body. Scholars have named this figure the “oculate being” because of its wide eyes. However, it remains a matter of debate whether the figure represents a particular supernatural entity or a stylized figural representation.

Object facts

• Title: Border Fragment
• Date: 100 BCE-200 CE
• Artist attribution: Paracas South coast, Peru
• Place of origin: Peru
• Medium: Cotton, plain weave; embroidered with wool (camelid) in stem stitches
• Dimensions: 39.4 × 20.3 cm (15 1/2 × 8 in.)
• Type: Textile
• Department: Textiles
• Reference number: 1958.751

Collection credit

Gift of Alan R. Sawyer

View the original

Explore the artwork in the Art Institute's collection, including its image and the museum's current catalogue details.

The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.