600–900
Papagayo macaw feathers knotted onto strings and stitched to cotton plain-weave cloth; camelid fiber plain-weave cloth upper tape
Overall: 81.3 x 223.5 cm (32 x 88 in.); Mounted: 94 x 236.2 cm (37 x 93 in.)
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 2002.93
This panel is entirely covered in the feathers of blue and yellow macaws.
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.
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