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Textile Fragment with Cotton Goddess
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
The figure painted on this fragment represents a female deity with a large, fanged mouth. Further fanged heads occur on the chest, legs, feet, waist, and staffs of authority she holds. Edging both the staffs and the top of the head are white cotton bolls that have caused the deity to be dubbed the Cotton Goddess and associated with nature’s fertility.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineTextile Fragment with Cotton Goddess, 800–500 BCE. Andes, south coast, Ica Valley?, Chavín style. Cotton, pigments; overall: 34.3 x 36.2 cm (13 1/2 x 14 1/4 in.); mounted: 39.1 x 41.3 cm (15 3/8 x 16 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund, 2017.56
