Skip to main content

Panel

Culture
Wari
Date
c.650–900
Current Location
Not on view
Dimensions
26 15/16 x 82 5/16 in. (68.5 x 209 cm)
Credit Line
Museum Purchase
Rights
Public Domain
Object Number
285:1949
NOTES
Ancient traders carried tens of thousands of blue-and-yellow macaw feathers from the Amazonian rainforest over the Andes Mountains to create this textile. Wari artists attached feathers to this cotton panel in overlapping rows to mimic the way feathers cover a bird’s body. Fields of blue and yellow on the textile create strong visual balance, and also reference the symbolic coloration of the macaw. With a blue back and yellow underside, this tropical bird embodies the division of top and bottom, particularly when in flight.
by 1948 - 1949
Walram von Schoeler, New York, NY, USA [1]

1949 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Walram Von Schoeler [2]


Notes:
[1] A letter from Walram von Schoeler to the Museum dated October 9, 1948 indicates that the "Feathermantle" had been on loan to the Museum before that date. Records indicate the object arrived as part of a group of Andean objects received as loans from Walram von Schoeler on August 20, 1948 [Incoming Shipment Log, Saint Louis Art Museum Archives].

[2] Minutes of the Administrative Board of Control of the City Art Museum, November 3, 1949; letter from von Schoeler dated December 6, 1949 [SLAM document files].

We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.

Scroll back to top