Fragment of Embroidered Cloth (c. 300–100 BCE): Art, History and Details

Fragment of Embroidered Cloth (c. 300–100 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The repetition of a nonmythical figure, in this case a warrior holding spears and a trophy head, was one of the important innovations of Paracas textile design during the Late Paracas period. The trophy head cult was an essential aspect of crop fertility and was, therefore, a focal point of Paracas art in general.

Object facts

• Title: Fragment of Embroidered Cloth
• Date: c. 300–100 BCE
• Culture: Peru, South Coast, Paracas, Late Period
• Type: Textile
• Technique: embroidery on plain wool ground
• Dimensions: Average: 100.3 x 139.1 cm (39 1/2 x 54 3/4 in.)
• Collection: T - Pre-Columbian
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1940.528

A detail from the museum

Extremely dry conditions on Peru's desert coast allow for the extraordinary preservation of textiles.

Collection credit

The Norweb Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.

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.