Tunic with Double-headed Serpents (400–200 BCE): Art, History and Details

Tunic with Double-headed Serpents (400–200 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Gauze weave was used to pattern this tunic with interlocking, double-headed serpents that may have had mythical or supernatural significance. By manipulating the density of the fabric to create the design, the weaver may have sidestepped a limitation of cotton, which did not readily take dyes.

Object facts

• Title: Tunic with Double-headed Serpents
• Date: 400–200 BCE
• Culture: Peru, South Coast, Ica Valley, Ocucaje site?, Paracas people (700 BCE-1 CE)
• Type: Textile
• Technique: cotton; gauze
• Dimensions: folded: 68.3 x 65.4 cm (26 7/8 x 25 3/4 in.)
• Collection: T - Pre-Columbian
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 2005.17

Collection credit

Dudley P. Allen Fund

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.