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Textile Fragments
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
These fragments are rare survivors of catastrophic rains that destroyed much of the Moche textile legacy and may have helped to bring about the decline of Moche culture. Each depicts a serpent and a snail beneath a hovering raptorial bird—perhaps a snail kite, a type of hawk named after its favored food. The size of the motifs implies that the original textile was large; a mantle (a shawl-like garment) or a hanging are among the possibilities.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineTextile Fragments , c. 50–650 CE. Peru, Moche, north coast. Cotton and camelid fiber; overall: 40 x 25.4 cm (15 3/4 x 10 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 2007.2
