Half of a Tabard

Textiles

1250-1450

Peru, Possibly south coast

Featherworks are challenging for scholars to interpret because they are rare and so materially different from more common woven textiles made by the same cultures. Motifs have various colors because of the vibrant plumages of the birds and have altered forms because of how the artists sewed the strands of feathers to the ground cloths. This tabard is distinct from more common tunics because it was not originally sewn up the sides. A very similar garment in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has been scientifically dated to 1298–1397.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Textiles

Title: Half of a Tabard
Place: Peru (Object made in:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: Made 1250–1450
Medium: Cotton, plain weave; embellished with feathers (likely from Chilean flamigos, macaws, and Muscovy ducks) knotted and attached with cotton in overcast stitches
Dimensions: 99.1 × 82.6 cm (39 × 32 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Kate S. Buckingham Endowment
Reference Number: 1955.1783
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/85518/manifest.json

Richard Townsend with Elizabeth Pope, Indian Art of the Americas at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago with Yale University Press, 2016), 349, cat 318.

South Bend, IN, Art Gallery of the University of Notre Dame, The Art of Ancient Peru, Dec. 20, 1961-Jan. 28, 1962.
Art Institute of Chicago, Department of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, Dec. 27, 1988-May 10, 1989.
Art Institute of Chicago, Elizabeth F. Cheney and Agnes Allerton Textile Galleries, Mexican, Central, and South American Textiles: A Living Legacy, Oct. 28, 1992-Jan. 17, 1993.
Art Institute of Chicago, Department of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, Jan. 25 May 10, 1994.
Art Institute of Chicago, Department of African and Amerindian Art, Mar. 18-July 30, 1997.
Art Institute of Chicago, Department of African and Amerindian Art, Aug. 21-Dec. 18, 2002.
Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of the Americas rotation, Gallery 136, May 31-Dec. 13, 2022.

Eduard Gaffron (1861–1931), Lima, Peru, from 1892 to 1912, then Berlin, from 1912 [History of the Department report (Joanne Behrens, 1985) and correspondence in curatorial file]; by descent to his children Mercedes Gaffron, Berlin then Durham, SC, and Hans Gaffron (1902–1979), Berlin then Chicago [correspondence and documentation of the Gaffron Collection in curatorial file]; sold to the Art Institute, 1955.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.