Funerary Bundle Mask

CC0 Public Domain Designation

2nd century BCE

Paracas
Probably Ocucaje, Ica Valley, south coast, Peru

Ancient South American communities maintained elaborate funerary traditions that included preserving and dressing the dead. Among the Paracas from the south coast of what is now Peru, deceased individuals were placed in a seated position and wrapped in layers of textiles and offerings, forming rounded bundles about three to four feet high. These bundles were often dressed in garments, headdresses, and masks, suggesting that the deceased’s identity continued after death.

Masks with lengths of unwoven warp loops—either folded behind the mask or tied into a circular topknot—were padded with unspun cotton and sewn atop a funerary bundles to emulate a human head and hair. They were often painted with stylized faces.

Status: On View, Gallery 59
Department: Textiles

Culture: Paracas
Title: Funerary Bundle 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

Mary Elizabeth King, “Textiles and Basketry of the Paracas Period, Ica Valley, Peru” (Ph.D. diss., University of Arizona, 1965), 125.

South Bend, IN, Art Gallery of the University of Notre Dame, Art of Ancient Peru, Dec. 20, 1961-Jan. 28, 1962.
Arts Club of Chicago, Primitive Paintings from the Pacific, the Americas, and Africa, Jan. 24-Feb. 25, 1964.
School of the Art Institute of Chicago Museum Seminar, God, Man and Beast: Metamorphosis in Native American Art, May 9-June 6, 1979.
Art Institute of Chicago, Department of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, Feb. 17-May 11, 1987.
Art Institute of Chicago, Super/Natural: Textiles of the Andes, Feb. 23-June 16, 2019, no cat.
Art Institute of Chicago, Elizabeth F. Cheney and Agnes Allerton Textile Galleries, On Loss and Absence: Textiles of Mourning and Survival, Sept. 6, 2025–Mar. 15, 2026, cat. (not in cat.)

Pablo Soldi, Ica, Peru, by Apr. 26, 1957 [through Pan American Shop, New York; incoming receipt RX2213, Apr. 26, 1957, copy in curatorial object file]; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1957.

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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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.

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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.

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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.