Ceremonial mantle

This mantle, made as a funerary offering, was found as part of a mortuary bundle in the Paracas Peninsula. It represents a fine example of the technical and stylistic revolution produced by the use of camelid wool fibers and new dyes. The woven designs are replaced by needle-embroidered figures using camelid wool dyed in different colors on a plain weave. The mantle is decorated with a single design repeated 74 times: a man in ceremonial dress holding a human trophy head, a victor’s attribute in the ritual combat. The composition follows the rules of binary subdivision and inversion, very recurrent in Paracas textile art. For example: the characters in each longitudinal row walk in the opposite direction to that of their counterparts in the neighboring rows. Likewise, each character alternately holds a trophy head in the hand opposite to that of its immediate neighbors. Complex beliefs about the principles that govern nature and society, the principle of complementing opposites among others, were probably reflected in such designs. (KM)