Paracassamlingen » Tunic

Cat tunic with woven fringes

josef — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:47:38 +0000

Variously sized felines.

The middle part and the fringes are in plain weave cotton fabric. The borders are separately woven in wool and embroidered with woollen yarn. The embroidery is in stem-stitch in linear style.

Dating and origin

Paracas Necropolis, Horizonte Temprano 10 – Intermedio Temprano 1 (c. 100 BC – 100 AD)

Tunic with heart shaped face

josef — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:29:33 +0000

A heart-shaped face, encircled by eight trophy heads with hair let down. The embroidery originally had a black background, but the black thread has almost entirely eroded away, due presumably to the metals used for dyeing.

Material and technique

Embroidered in woollen yarn on cotton fabric. The embroidery is in stem-stitch in broad-linear style.

Dating and origin

Paracas Necropolis, Horizonte Temprano 10 – Intermedio Temprano 1 (c. 100 BC – 100 AD)

Four colour tunic

josef — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:28:37 +0000

1. A fish or shark holding a trophy head in one hand. The motif resembles that of mantle border 1935.32.0077 (showcase 14).

2. An anthropomorphic figure with its hair let down, holding a spear. The figure resembles that in border 1935.32.0084 (showcase 14).

3. An anthropomorphic figure, frontally depicted. Certain details of the face – the ears and nose, for example – resemble those of the figure in border 1935.32.0084 (showcase 14).

4. An anthropomorphic figure holding a trophy head.

Material and technique

Embroidered in woollen yarn on plain-woven woollen fabric. The embroidery is in stem-stitch in colour-field style. The front and back of the tunic have different border patterns.

Dating and origin

Paracas Necropolis, Intermedio Temprano 1A (c. 100 BC – 100 AD)

Hummingbird tunic with fringes

josef — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:23:52 +0000

Each border of this tunic contains a row of small birds on the wing. They have long beaks and look like hummingbirds. All the birds in one row “fly” in the same direction, but those in the next border are turned in the opposite direction.

Material and technique

Embroidered in woollen yarn on plain-woven woollen fabric. The embroidery is in stem-stitch in colour-field style.

Dating and origin

Paracas Necropolis, Intermedio Temprano 1 (c. 100 BC – 100 AD)

Bumblebee tunic

josef — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:19:51 +0000

A creature reminiscent of a bumblebee, with hands in front and hands on its hind legs. All the animals have their heads pointing in the same direction and are positioned one after the other all round the tunic. They are embroidered in four different colour combinations which are regularly repeated.

Material and technique

The border is embroidered in woollen yarn on plain-woven woollen fabric. The embroidery is in stem-stitch in linear style. The tunic is woven from tightly twisted woollen yarn.

Dating and origin

Paracas Necropolis, Intermedio Temprano 1B (c. 100 BC – 200 AD)

Large yellow tunic with fringes

josef — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:16:37 +0000

The motif is hard to make out, so much of the embroidery having eroded away. What is left looks like an insect but may originally have been part of a larger figure. The Museum collection also includes an embroidery with a “double face” (see detail picture, item no, 1935.32.0082), parts of which resemble this motif.

Material and technique

Material and technique: Embroidered in woollen yarn on plain-woven cotton fabric. The embroidery is in stem-stitch in linear style. The tunic is made up of six weaves: two for the tunic and two each for the front and back fringes. The woven fringes are 1.5 cm wide.

Dating and origin

Paracas Necropolis, Horizonte Temprano 10 -10A (c. 100 BC – 0)