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Radiance from the Rain Forest: Featherwork in Ancient Peru
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Man's tunic (uncu) with Feather Design
Colonial; late 16th–early 17th century
Cotton, camelid hair; 38 x 30 in. (96.5 x 76.2 cm)
Reportedly from the Island of Coati, Lake Titicaca, Bolivia
American Museum of Natural History, New York (B/1505)
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As this spectacular, brilliantly colored tunic illustrates, feathers continued to be used as a motif in Peruvian art even after the arrival of the Spanish and the introduction of European imagery and taste. The shirt was made of the finest tapestry-woven cloth, known as cumbi, in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century, when indigenous traditions in Peru were still strong. The feather motif was used together with tocapu designs—small geometric motifs found on Inka ceremonial textiles and ritual items—a combination not customary during Inka times. The color variation on the alternating green and yellow feathers with red and white ends may refer to the color gradation often seen on real feathers.
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