Fragment of a female skirt

This fragment of a female skirt is decorated with human figures and is an important evidence of agricultural practices in the Nasca culture. Dated between 100 B.C. and 100 A.D., it illustrates peasants with their typical white conical headdress holding some edible plants, among which it is possible to recognize chilies, lucume, jiquimas. Alternating with the peasants in the rows are figures wearing the mask of the supreme deity nasca, probably priests who supervised the harvest. This may be a depiction of an agricultural ritual in which the peasants brought as offerings the fruits of the fields. The fabric, with the characters (based on a unique model but depicted with small variations) arranged in dense horizontal lines, is painted in the particular Nasca interpretation of horror vacui, a style peculiar to painted canvases of the ancient culture. Two large fragments of the same skirt are preserved at the Textile Museum in Washington and the Metropolitan Museum in New York.