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Mummy Mask

A work made of cotton, plain weave with bundles of extended warps; painted.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of cotton, plain weave with bundles of extended warps; painted.

Date:

200/100 B.C.

Artist:

Paracas
South coast, Peru

About this artwork

Painted to emulate the features of a human face, this mummy mask also has fringe suggestive of hair, this mask probably was part of a mummy bundle. When the Paracas buried their dead, they placed the deceased in a seated position and wrapped it in layers of woven garments; masks were placed atop the bundle and served as a reminder of the human body within the many layers of wrapped cloth.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Textiles

Culture

Paracas

Title

Mummy Mask

Place

Peru (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 200 BCE–100 BCE

Medium

Cotton, plain weave with bundles of extended warps; painted

Dimensions

Without extended warps: 20.8 × 20.7 cm (8 3/16 × 8 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Simeon B. Williams Fund

Reference Number

1957.77

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/5371/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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