Head Cloth (1000–1460s): Art, History and Details

Head Cloth (1000–1460s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This tie-dyed panel was probably worn as a head cloth, a common article of women’s wear among the Chancay people of Peru’s central coast. Its colors are reminiscent of a deep twilight, when the sky turns a luminous, dark blue and a shimmer of orange light appears on the horizon. It is not known whether the repeated squares have symbolic significance.

Object facts

• Title: Head Cloth
• Date: 1000–1460s
• Culture: Central Andes, central coast, Chancay people
• Type: Textile
• Technique: Cotton
• Dimensions: Overall: 99.1 x 99.1 cm (39 x 39 in.)
• Collection: T - Pre-Columbian
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 2017.60

A detail from the museum

It is unknown whether Chancay head cloths were part of larger clothing ensembles.

Collection credit

Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Bergh, Susan E.. “Acquisition Highlights: Pre-Columbian Art.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 58, no. 2 (March/April 2018): 8-9.

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.