Cleveland Museum of Art

Feathered Panel

Date

600–900

Medium

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

Culture

Peru, Far South Coast, Pampa Ocoña, 7th-10th century

Department

Textiles

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

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. This panel is entirely covered in the feathers of blue and yellow macaws.

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