Cleveland Museum of Art

Tunic

Date

400–200 BCE

Medium

looped camelid fiber

Culture

Peru, South Coast, Ica Valley, Ocucaje site?, Paracas people

Department

Textiles

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The striking, large-scale figure shown on this tunic has an elaborate, monkey-like tail as well as head appendages that mark the creature as supernatural. This tunic, a relatively rare type, was made not on a loom but rather by working the yarns into loops with a needle. It is made entirely with camelid fiber, which can readily be dyed in a range of vivid colors. The fiber comes from one of the four camels (camelids) native to the Andes Mountains—the alpaca and llama, both domesticated, and the wild guanaco and vicuña. On the coast, it represents a prestige import. The red dyes in this tunic likely come from madder root.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.