Feathered Cotton Poncho
date: label: Accession Date
content: 22 Mar 1945
label: Collection Date
content: 1913
name: label: Collector
content: Dr. Ales F. Hrdlicka
label: Donor Name
content: National Museum of Natural History
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Plain white cotton fabric overlain with feathers; head slit 9 1/2" L. from shoulder fold; tie strings at sides. Central human figure, standing against purple background, is red with yellow tips on 3-digit feet and hands; light blue face with yellow eyes & mouth ringed with purple; red ears with triangular yellow drops, black centers; red crescent headdress on hat with black front. At each side, yellow fig. with black face & high yellow headdress faces center from seat on red-dotted yellow ball on half circle. Bottom band of yellow wing-tail feathers. Dr. Herbert Friedman believes the green, red, & (possibly) purple are clipped tips of parrot feathers; light blue, honey creepers or tanigers; black, possibly from orioles. Deco. on both sides is identical. Loaned to The Textile Museum 1-13-84, returned 9-18-84. Size: 32 1/2" x 28". " Has been identified as Chimu.
label: Notes
content: Ilus. Figure 1, p. 104 in King, Heidi, and Ma. Mercedes Delgado Pe´rez. 2012. Peruvian featherworks: art of the Precolumbian era. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. Identified there, pp. 104 - 106, as: "Tabard with Frontal Figure, Chimu, 13th - 15th century, feathers on cotton, 32 7/8 x 28 1/8 in (83.5 x 71.5 cm.) Acquired in 1912 [sic, should be 1913] by Ales Hrdlicka from a grave in the Nasca Valley. The traditional men's garment in ancient Peru was a sleeveless shirt or tunic with vertical armholes at the shoulders and a neck opening at the top. Ceremonial tunics densely covered with feathers front and back are open along the sides, probably to protect the delicate feathers from breaking off. Allowing the feathered cloth to move freely with the movement of the wearer also enhanced the iridescent and color variation of the feathers depending on the shifting light. Open-sided tunics, or tabards, were probably worn over other clothing. Of North Coast manufacture, this tabard came from a burial in the Nasca Valley on the South Coast. It was collected on a field trip to Peru in 1912 [sic, should be 1913] by the anthropologist Ales Hrdlicka .... On April 24, in a note to the museum, he wrote: 'I descended one of the tributaries of the Rio Nasca and then gradually examined a large part of the Nasca Valley, until I reached close down to the coast. ... Among other things I was fortunate to be present at one of the cemeteries in the Nasca desert when an accidental discovery was made ... of a burial chamber containing the rests of two ancient mummies of high dignitaries or priests. I secured the precious contents of the grave, which included two feather robes, and am happy to donate them to our Institution.' It is unclear whether the tabard came to the south by way of an exchange of luxury goods between elites, or whether it was made by Chimu weavers who had been relocated to the south after the Inca had brought Chimu territory under their control. Open along the sides, feathered tabards were held in place with three or four ties on the front and back edges ... The unfeathered section between three and six inches (7.6 x 15.2 cm) wide, always along the top of the garment ... would accommodate the curve of the shoulders. Frontal figures wearing ear ornaments and prominent crescent headdresses ... were a common motif in the art of the North and Central Coasts of this time. ... [Tabard is] attributed to the Chimu on the basis of the iconography and technical features of the foundation fabric. ... [Tabard is] made of two panels joined along the center with the neck slit left open and have paired warps, considered the most diagnostic feature of Chimu weaving."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 27 Dec 2023
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Ica, Peru, South America
topic: label: Topic
content: Archaeology
culture: label: Culture
content: Chimu
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 169866
label: USNM Number
content: A387710-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Tunic