🔥 Stunning Ancient MUSEUM Pre-Columbian CHIMU Incan Textile Feathered Tabard

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🔥 Stunning Ancient MUSEUM Pre-Columbian CHIMU Incan Textile Feathered Tabard:
$9500.00

This is an incredible andStunning Ancient MUSEUM 15th c. Pre-Columbian CHIMU Incan Peruvian Textile Feathered Tabard, likely dating to the mid 1400's - early 1500's. This extravagant feathered tabard features colorful bands of ornate and finely woven wool or cotton textile strips at the top, and hundreds, if not thousands of weaved in green, white, and iridescent green-blue parrot feathers. This magnificent piece is among one of the largest known feathered Chimu cloaks ever discovered, at approximately 43 1/2 inches wide x 49 1/2 inches tall. The huge shadowbox frame is approximately 49 1/2 x 55 x 3 inches. Very good condition for over 500 YEARS of age and storage, with some tiny fleabite holes to several of the feathers, dust and debris under the glass, and small piles of a disintegrated and loose feather pieces and dust which are visible at the bottom of the frame, especially in the bottom corners. There is also evidence of decades old and mild carpet beetle infiltration, with scattered tiny carpet beetle casings speckled throughout the surface of the feathered tabard (please see photos carefully.) To remedy this issue, this piece could be removed from the frame, lightly dusted, and the bottom of the shadowbox frame could be swept out and cleaned. However, this artifact is extremely fragile, and this aforementioned suggestion is a delicate and time-consuming process. I am leaving this task to the buyer, should they choose to perform it or not. An original sales receipt that was included with this piece, which dates to the 1960's, will accompany this artifact. Acquired from a very old and affluent Ethnographic art collection in Los Angeles, California. Due to the massive size and heavy weight of this item, it is offered for Local Pickup Only from Los Angeles County, California. However, if you are willing to pay for UPS Freight shipping, please reach out to me for a quote before making an Offer. Priced to Sell. If you like what you see, I encourage you to make an Offer. Please check out my other listings for more wonderful and unique artworks!
About this Item:
Feathered Tabard

Chimu

15th–16th century
Tabards—open-sided tunics—were worn by men in the ancient Andes. In the late 15th century, the Incas conquered Chan Chan, the Chimú capital on Peru’s North Coast, forcibly relocating many of the city’s artisans to distant parts of the empire.
The Chimú urban capital of Chan Chan housed thousands of specialized artisans living in densely populated areas close to the monumental architectural complexes. These artisans—potters, metallurgists, bead makers, woodworkers, and weavers—were closely supervised by members of the ruling elite, who provided raw materials and controlled the symbolic content of artistic production. The Chimú elite had to maintain contacts with populations from the Amazonian Basin in order to be supplied with foreign materials such as brilliantly colored feathers. Feather workers used a few coastal birds such as cormorants, egrets, ducks, and flamencos for their white, black, and pink feathers. However, the most popular feathers came from the rainforest. Macaws, parrots, parakeets, curassows, and tanagers provided the most vivid colors: yellow, green, blue, purple, and turquoise.

Like many other pre-Hispanic textiles, these items are typically buried with their owner in a subterranean tomb on the southern coast of Peru. The dark and arid conditions in these tombs protected the tunic, thereby allowing its vibrant colors and bold motifs to endure.
Colorful feathers were prized materials in Andean cultures due to the sourcing and transportation, some feathers were worth nearly the same as precious metals (if not more). Some species used- such as macaws must have been imported from the rainforest through the mountains and to the coast, a journey of hundreds of miles. It is possible that live, caged birds as well as their plucked feathers were carried by traders to supply this demand! Avian motifs and the use of feathers were symbolic in Andean cultures, for birds were sacred animals that could fly between worlds and were messengers for the gods.