Spindle

About this object

Narrative

Collected by Mavis Balshaw while living near Paracas, Peru, c. 1968.

Cultural context

textile production

Physical description

Small spindle and whorl. The long, thin wooden shaft is pointed at both ends, thicker at centre, where it pierces a clay bead. Encircling stripes of white, brown, and red brown paint decorate the shaft on both sides of the bead. The bead is bulbous, painted black, with three groups of concentric circles carved into the clay and painted white.