Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Source Description
Experts agree that this cloth is one of the greatest paintings to survive from Andean antiquity due to the realism, complexity, large size, and refined execution of its figures. All but one of the figures wear the whiskered mouth mask of Nasca supernatural beings and several carry or wear severed human heads, which the Nasca linked to nature’s fruitfulness. Thus, the figures seem to represent supernatural forces or humans personifying such forces during a ritual devoted to agricultural fertility. Originally, the panel was attached along its upper edge to a dark blue cloth of equal size. The complete textile may have served as a mantle (a shawl-like garment), a hanging, or a funerary offering.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
119693
label
Cloth with Procession of Figures
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
119693
contentType
object
title
Cloth with Procession of Figures
description
Experts agree that this cloth is one of the greatest paintings to survive from Andean antiquity due to the realism, complexity, large size, and refined execution of its figures. All but one of the figures wear the whiskered mouth mask of Nasca supernatural beings and several carry or wear severed human heads, which the Nasca linked to nature’s fruitfulness. Thus, the figures seem to represent supernatural forces or humans personifying such forces during a ritual devoted to agricultural fertility. Originally, the panel was attached along its upper edge to a dark blue cloth of equal size. The complete textile may have served as a mantle (a shawl-like garment), a hanging, or a funerary offering.
date
170 BCE–70 CE (radiocarbon date, 95% probability)
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60740770
genreSpecific
Textile
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 69.8 x 280.7 cm (27 1/2 x 110 1/2 in.); Mounted: 78.7 x 290.2 cm (31 x 114 1/4 in.)
cul
Central Andes, South Coast, Nasca people
accession
1940.53
Source extras
tec
cotton and pigment (field); camelid fiber (borders and fringe)
tombstone
Cloth with Procession of Figures, 170 BCE–70 CE (radiocarbon date, 95% probability). Central Andes, South Coast, Nasca people. Cotton and pigment (field); camelid fiber (borders and fringe); overall: 69.8 x 280.7 cm (27 1/2 x 110 1/2 in.); mounted: 78.7 x 290.2 cm (31 x 114 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Norweb Collection, 1940.530
collection
T - Pre-Columbian
findSpot
Said to have been excavated from the necropolis at Cerro Colorado on the Paracas Peninsula, Peru
didYouKnow
Characteristics of the pampas cat and the emperor tamarin monkey are visible in the marching figures.
citations
citation
Milliken, William M. "Exhibition of the "Art of the Americas"." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 32, no. 9 (1945)
page_number
cat. no. 10
citation
Art of the Americas: Picture Book No. 2. (Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art,1946.)
page_number
pl. 10
citation
The Tiger's Eye. 1, no.5 (October, 1948)
page_number
83, fig.76
citation
Bennett, Wendell C. and Bird, Junius Bouton. Andean Culture History. American Museum of Natural History, Handbook Series 15. (New York, NY: American Museum of Natural History, 1949.)
page_number
p.287, fig. 57
citation
Foote, Helen. "Early Peruvian Pottery." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art </em>37, no. 3 (March 1950): 54-56.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 56
citation
"Art and Archaeology at the Cleveland Museum of Art." <em>Archaeology</em> 6, no. 4 (1953)
page_number
p. 201
citation
Bennett, Wendell Clark. <em>Ancient Arts of the Andes. </em>New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1954.
page_number
p. 56, figs. 58, 60
citation
Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.), and Wendell Clark Bennett. <em>32 Masterworks of Andean Art from the Exhibition Ancient Arts of the Andes</em>. 1955.
page_number
p. 59, Cat. No. 56, Fig. 58, Pl. 2, Fig. 60
citation
"The Cleveland Museum of Art." <em>Arts</em> 30, no. 2 (November, 1955).
page_number
p. 42
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 343
citation
Hissink, Karin and Hahn, Albert. Die Tacana, I Erzahlungsgut. Universitat Frankfurt am Main. Frobenius-Institut Veroffentlichungen. (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1961.)
page_number
p. 549
citation
Dockstader, Frederick J. "Indian Art of the Americas Before and After Columbus." Art in America. XLIX, no. 3 (1961.)
page_number
p. 24
citation
Kubler, George. The Art and Architecture of Ancient America: The Mexican, Maya, and Andean Peoples. (Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1962.)
page_number
p. 296, pl. 172a
citation
Hawley, Henry. "Pre-Columbian Art at Cleveland." <em>Apollo</em>. LXVIII (December, 1963).
page_number
p. 491, pl. XVI
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 296
citation
Glubok, Shirley. The Art of Ancient Peru. (New York: Harper & Row, 1966.)
page_number
p. 28
citation
Grieder, Terrance, "Demons and Discipline in Ancient Peru." Art News LXVII (October 1968)
page_number
p. 42 fig. 43
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 296
citation
<em>The Little Art Book Series</em>. Introduction by Sherman E. Lee; texts for the reproductions by the curators of the departments of the museum. Ed. Berthold Fricke. (Hannover, Germany: Knorr & Hirth, 1970)
page_number
p. 85
citation
Meggers, Betty Jane. <em>Prehistoric America. </em>Chicago: Aldine·Atherton, 1972.
page_number
p. 81, fig. 51
citation
Rowe, Ann P. "Interlocking Warp and Weft in the Nasca 2 Style." <em>Textile Museum Journal</em> III, no. 3 (December, 1972).
page_number
p. 74, fig. 10
citation
Junius B. Bird Pre-Columbian Textile Conference, Junius Bouton Bird, Ann Pollard Rowe, Elizabeth P. Benson, and Anne-Louise Schaffer. <em>The Junius B. Bird Pre-Columbian Textile Conference, May 19th and 20th, 1973</em>. 1979.
page_number
p. 131, fig. 2
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 400
citation
Méry, Fernand, and Emma Street. The Life, History and Magic of the Cat. 1978.
page_number
p. 26
citation
Wilson, Kax. A History of Textiles. Boulder, Colo: Westview Press, 1979.
page_number
plate 108
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art, and Adele Z. Silver. <em>Guide to the Galleries</em>. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1981.
citation
Benson, Elizabeth P., and William J. Conklin. <em>Museums of the Andes.</em> New York, N.Y.: Newsweek, 1981.
page_number
p. 29
citation
Kajitani, Nobuko. <em>Andesu no senshoku. </em>Kyoto: Kyoto Shoin, 1982.
page_number
p. 37, plate 40
citation
Saunders, Nicholas J. <em>People of the Jaguar: The Living Spirit of Ancient America.</em> 1989.
page_number
p. 138
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 12
citation
Turner, Evan H.<em> Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. </em>Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991.
page_number
p. 43
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Interpretations: Sixty-Five Works from the Cleveland Museum of Art. </em>1991.
page_number
no. 43
citation
Konig, Viola. “Don Luys II” <em>Baessler-Archiv. Beitrage zur Volkerkunde</em> Bd. 41 (1993).
page_number
p. 153, abb. 3
citation
Dumbarton Oaks, and Elizabeth Hill Boone. <em>Andean Art at Dumbarton Oaks</em>. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1996.
page_number
pp. 344, 359-360, figs. 122, 127, pl. 99
citation
Lavalle de Cárdenas, Rosario de, and José Antonio de Lavalle. Tejidos <em>Milenarios Del Perú = Ancient Peruvian Textiles.</em> [Erscheinungsort nicht ermittelbar]: Integra AFP, 1999.
page_number
p. 182-3, pl. 30
citation
Silverman, Helaine, and William Harris Isbell. <em>Andean Archaeology II: Art, Landscape, and Society</em>. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2002.
page_number
p. 93, fig. 3.8
citation
Cáceres Macedo, Justo, and Justo Cáceres Macedo. <em>Tejidos del Perú prehispánico = Textiles of the prehispanic Peru</em>. Lima, Peru: Justo Cáceres Macedo, 2005.
page_number
p. 376
citation
Fagan, Brian M., and Christopher R. DeCorse. <em>In the Beginning: An Introduction to Archaeology. </em>Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005.
page_number
p. 278, fig. 11.18
citation
Palmero, Paola Buratti. <em>Mantas di Jasimaná: l'abilità tessile di un'antica etnia delle Ande Argentine.</em> [Biella]: Progetto Ermanno, 2006.
page_number
p. 40, fig. 6
citation
Frame, Mary. “Cronología de los fardos funerarios de Wari Kayan, Paracas Necrópolis.” <em>Hilos del pasado: el aporte francés al legado Paracas</em>. Lima: Instituto Nacional de Cultura, 2007.
page_number
p. 35, 43-44, 46
citation
Frame, Mary. “Cronología de los fardos funerarios de Wari Kayan, Paracas Necrópolis.” Hilos del pasado: el aporte francés al legado Paracas. Lima: Instituto Nacional de Cultura, 2007.
page_number
35, 43-44, 46
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art, David Franklin, and C. Griffith Mann. <em>Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012.
page_number
pp. 42-3
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: P. 341
citation
Boucherie, Nathalie, Witold Nowik, Dominique Cardon, "Etude de Colorants d'une Offrande textile (Y16) Exceptionnelle, decouverte dur le Site de Cahuachi (Culture Nasca)," <em>Techne </em>No. 41 (2015).
page_number
pp. 47-54
citation
Fagan, Brian M. <em>Ancient Lives: An Introduction to Archaeology and Prehistory</em>. 2017.
page_number
p. 418
citation
"New in the Galleries.” <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine</em> 57, no. 1 (January/February 2017): Back cover.
page_number
Reproduced and Mentioned: Back cover
citation
Fagan, Brian M., and Nadia Durrani. <em>World Prehistory: A Brief Introduction</em>. 2020.
page_number
p. 329
citation
Bergh, Susan E. "'The Art of Those Who Lived Here Before the White Man Came': Collecting the Ancient Americas at the Cleveland Museum of Art." In <em>Collecting the “Other Americas”: Ancient Americas Collections in American Art Museums, </em>edited by Victoria I. Lyall, and Ellen Hoobler, 67- 82. Denver, Colorado: Mayer Center for Ancient and Latin American Art at the Denver Art Museum, 2025.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 70-71, fig. 5
citation
Carmichael, Elizabeth A., and Patrick H. Carmichael. "Proto-Nasca Iconography: The Harris Drum and the Gothenburg Ceremonial Staff." <em>Nawpa Pacha </em>45, no. 1 (2025): 105-139.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 112, 134, 137; Reproduced: p. 135 (fig. 24)
creditline
The Norweb Collection
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:10:53.018000
sourceId
119693
dept
Textiles
coll
T - Pre-Columbian
med
cotton and pigment (field); camelid fiber (borders and fringe)
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
05460e42c2dfcf7c