George C. Brackett Fund

Has # 22 tag on it. Early handwoven blanket that would have been worn by women or by Kachina dancers as a cape tied around the neck and tied under the arms.

Gift of Mrs. Minor C. Keith in memory of her husband

Brooklyn Museum Collection

The Taino of the Caribbean islands centered their religion on the worship of zemis, or deities. Shamans (behiques) served as intermediaries between supernatural and natural worlds. They communicated with deities by inhaling cohoba powder, a hallucinogen that was mixed with tobacco to maximize its effect. Carved spoons were used to ladle the powder, which was then inhaled through the nose with a tube. Before ingestion, the shaman purified himself by purging with a vomiting stick. Ritual objects of bone and wood such as the ones seen here were exquisitely carved with images of zemis, who helped the shaman achieve ecstatic states.


Los Taíno de las islas Caribeñas centraban su religión en la adoración de zemis o deidades. Los chamanes (behiques) servían como intermediarios entre los mundos sobrenatural y natural. Ellos se comunicaban con las deidades mediante la inhalación del polvo de cohoba, un alucinógeno que se mezclaba con tabaco para maximizar su efecto. Cucharas talladas se usaban para verter el polvo, el cual era inhalado con un tubo por la nariz. Antes de ingerirlo, el chamán se purificaba purgándose con una espátula para vomitar. Objetos rituales de hueso y madera como los que se ven aquí estaban exquisitamente tallados con imágenes de zemis, quienes ayudaban al chamán a alcanzar el estado de trance.

Gift of George D. Pratt

Size: adult; probable wearer: male. Vertical camelid fiber warp and camelid fiber weft; camelid fiber embroidery. The ground cloth is a scarlet plain weave, warp and weft interlocked. Fourteen additional colors are used in the woven imagery. However, the black has deteriorated due to the use of an iron mordant. There are single interlock joins, and stem-stitch embroidery is used for the details of the eyes and some of the mouths. A dark purple fringe is attached at the shoulder area, possibly a later addition. A thread count carried out by Barbara Applebaum of the Brooklyn Museum Conservation Department notes that there are 12 warp and 15 weft yarns per cm. Original description: Poncho with three large figures and ten smaller figures on a red background. The large figures, each one different, are shown wearing headdresses, masks, ponchos, a skirt and loincloths. They hold trophy heads, knives and arrows in their hands. The smaller figures are attached to the ends of serpent or ribbon-like extensions from the belts, headdresses, tails and mouths of the large figures. Mary Frame has noted that this textile was made into a poncho in antiquity from part of a larger cloth. It may originally have been a banner or hanging or half-mantle with a minimum of four figures. The band around the neck, the fringe, and side trim were embroidered onto the textile after the weaving and are worked in a purplish color not found in the weaving. One scholar has suggested that the neck opening was added at some time after the textile was originally woven. The neck aperture (24 cm) is small for a human head, unless the skull was radically elongated. Some "tunics" with small neck slits were slipped over the false head of a mummy bundle at Paracas Necropolis. Regarding the figure repetitions, a minimum of four figures [would have] repeated along the original length of cloth. The feet of the major figures face the same direction and the figures alternate in an up-down orientation. The largest figure on 34.1579 wears a feline-pelt headdress and is associated with two mythological animals devouring humans: a bird man on the end of its chin appendage and a shark with a human arm. Each figure portrayed is different and alternatively colored, some wear mouth masks and all have head ornaments. A minor figure on the left side of the tunic is a fishy creature devouring a human, a mythological theme that is recreated on other embroideries.

A. Augustus Healy Fund

Size: adult; probable wearer: male. The plain weave dark blue field has a horizontal camelid fiber warp and weft. Camelid fiber embroidery in red, dark blue, yellow and green is used for the designs. The lack of any indication of borders suggests that this textile may have been used as a headdress. The abstract design represents a smaller cat in outline, which is nested within a larger elongated cat figure; the cat tails end in a distinctive triangular shape. Filler figures are small cats. Several pieces in the collection have the same feline figure on the borders (34.1555 and 34.1591). A variant of this back-to-back feline figure occurs on a mantle in the collection (34.1584), where it repeats in paired bands; however the tail terminates in the complete body of a small cat, rather than in a triangular shape. A looped headband (34.1596) also has a design which represents a similar feline figure.

Alfred W. Jenkins Fund