Feathered Panel

Description

Of all the luxury textile types made in the ancient Andes, feathered cloth was one of the most esteemed. This panel may come from a buried offering that contained more than a half-dozen large human-effigy vessels made of ceramic; inside the vessels were 96 rolled panels, all covered with the feathers of the tropical blue-and-yellow macaw. The ties that survive on the upper corners of some panels suggest they served as hangings that transformed a space from mundane to radiant and ceremonial.

Provenance

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Feathered Panel

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600–900

Accession Number

2002.93

Medium

Papagayo macaw feathers knotted onto strings and stitched to cotton plain-weave cloth; camelid fiber plain-weave cloth upper tape

Dimensions

Overall: 81.3 x 223.5 cm (32 x 88 in.); Mounted: 94 x 236.2 cm (37 x 93 in.)

Classification

Textile

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund