Indigo threads trace a snail kite’s talons poised above a coiled serpent and a spiraled snail. The flood-scarred weave suggests these creatures once adorned a mantle draped across shoulders now lost to time.
What does the bird’s stillness reveal about Moche views of predator and prey?
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https://clevelandart.org/art/2007.2.6
This fragment, one of several in the collection, is a rare survivor of catastrophic rains that destroyed much of the Moche textile legacy and may have helped to bring about the decline of Moche culture. It 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.
Hidden Gems