In a recent survey of Peruvian colonial tapestries, the identification of a rare catafalque now in the Textile Museum of the District of Columbia constituted the first step in precisely dating these weavings.1 Made of alpaca and cotton,2 the fabric is decorated with four figures set in niches with floral scrolls above and below, all of these executed in red, blue, white and gold on a dark brown background (Fig. IA, B). The principal figures are two skeletons. One wears a royal crown and holds a scepter and a mace, and the other wears a papal tiara and holds a cross, leaving no doubt that the two main figures represent a King and a Pope. The mutilated ends indicate that originally the piece was larger and probably included another panel or panels. It is likely that the cloth covered the front of an altar. The rectangular shape of the textile and certainly the width (5′ 5 1/2″ by 3′ 4 1/2″) support such a theory. It has also been suggested that the catafalque may have been cylindrical.3 The only actual information we have concerning this piece is that it was acquired more than twenty-five years ago, in Chile, where it was said to be an altar cloth from Peru.