Flights of Fancy: Birds in Pre-Columbian Art

October 1, 2009 through February 28, 2010

Birds abound in the arts of the ancient Americas. Soaring falcons, fish-eating sea birds, hovering hummingbirds, and brilliantly colored parrots captured the imagination of peoples from Mesoamerica to the Andes. Artists depicted species they observed perching, eating, and flying. They also created abstract figures with beaks and wings, recognizable as avian only in a general sense. In other cases, they represented bird-creatures with fanciful attributes that existed only in the domain of supernatural belief. Their creations demonstrate a tremendous power of observation and an enduring fascination with feathered flying creatures of this world and beyond.

Depicting Fauna

Birds have long been esteemed for their plumage, song, and remarkable ability to fly. In the Pre-Columbian world, some species were observed and depicted in their native habitats. Others were rare specimens acquired by trade from distant places. Inka, Aztec, and Maya rulers received birds as gifts and kept them as pets and mascots. They wore clothing and jewelry with avian motifs, and in their royal gardens, they erected avian effigies in gold, silver, and precious stone. The variety of species represented in their arts suggests a wide ranging interest in local and exotic fauna.

Birds carried a rich symbolism in ancient American cultures. Birds of prey like the eagle, hawk, and falcon were metaphors of the sun, cosmological time, and military power. Waterfowl and shorebirds that dive or dip below the water's surface were associated with fish, fertility, and the underworld. Colorful birds, such as macaws and quetzals, were favored for their beauty and claimed as mythical ancestors by some groups.

Sea birds are depicted on many textiles from Peru's central coast. Here, two pelicans are rendered in a geometric style, with large tails and outstretched wings. The long beaks, black-lined necks, and posture are characteristic of the largest sea birds breeding in Peru. Pelicans are also one of the main guano-producing species, and therefore an integral part of human livelihood. Guano was—and continues to be—collected and traded over great distances for use as an agricultural fertilizer.

This gold bird has the striped body, patterned wings, and pointed beak of a falcon. Associated with Andean royalty, falcon feathers are said to have been worn by all descendants of Inka rulers.

A parrot or parakeet stands over a maize plant at the top of this pin. Birds' appetite for corn was a constant concern in Andean agricultural societies, and the pin offers an amusing allusion to competition over food resources.

This tiny spoon was probably used to consume hallucinogens in ritual contexts. In the Andes, the hummingbirds' habit of sucking nectar from flowers was associated with the shamanic ability to conjure visions or spirits.

Water birds decorate finials that once topped staffs held by Sinú dignitaries. The triple-crested bird, probably a type of duck, is hollow and doubles as a rattle. The long neck and curved beak of the second bird are suggestive of an ibis.

Demonstrating Power

Pre-Columbian dignitaries wore intricate ornaments in the shape of birds and feathers. They dressed in brilliantly patterned tunics with avian designs and carried similarly adorned shields and staffs. On important occasions, they donned shimmering headdresses and iridescent cloaks made with the colorful plumes of parrots, hummingbirds, and other tropical species. The natural beauty and great artistry of these garments dazzled onlookers and demonstrated the wearer's unique status and position.

By wearing avian trappings, dignitaries communicated particular affinities with feathered beings. Characteristics of certain species could signal the wearer's exceptional abilities, personality traits, achievements, or occupation. Alternatively, bird attributes could indicate a relationship with specific celestial powers, avian tutelaries, and spiritual helpers. Religious practitioners donned avian costumes to impersonate legendary or supernatural beings in ceremonies, rituals, or reenactments of myths.

These plumes may have been held as fans, worn as tassels, or placed in a headdress. Each feather's quill is folded around plant fibers that are braided and lashed together with a cord. The bright green feathers are from Mealy Parrots, the reddish ones from Greenwing Macaws, and the yellow ones remain unidentified.

Birds were favored as pendants by elites from Costa Rica to Colombia. Their stylized rendering suggests a concern with artistic form at the expense of naturalistic detail. Yet occasional horns, claws, or crests provide diversity and may allude to birds of a specific type or species. Suspended on leaders' chests, these birds were a sign of social distinction, control over precious resources, and possible affinities with certain avian species.

Birds far outnumber other figurative designs in the arts of the cultures of the Intermediate Area of the Americas. The extraordinary diversity of species present in this region of the world, as well as the social disposition of birds, their ability to sing or speak, and above all their unique capacity to fly have stimulated human interest and imagination. Many pendants bear the sharp beak and claws of birds of prey—fitting symbols of strength, power, and majesty.

The Maya lord on this monument carries a feathered shield. He wears an oversize feather headdress in the shape of a hummingbird with a flower on its long thin beak. In Mesoamerica, hummingbirds were associated with the sun, war, sacrifice, and rebirth—fitting symbols for a warrior's headdress.

In the text, a macaw head is part of the second glyph in the third column. Known as mo' in Maya languages, the macaw here represents the syllable mo in the name of the warrior's father, Moch Ahkchamay, who ruled along the Usumacinta River in the 7^th century CE. The fact that macaws could talk was surely significant. Several other Maya rulers chose to take the name Macaw because of the bird's powerful associations with the sun, fire, and even sprouting corn.

The figures on this tunic have been described as bird-men. Twelve eagle heads adorn each man's face, headdress, torso, and belt. Another five eagle heads hang off the men's staffs or by their feet. The bird attributes define the men's costumes and personae, possibly animating them with avian powers. The figures' two staffs, embellished with sets of feathers and a dangling human trophy head, further underscore the bird-men's fearsome powers.

The birds represented are harpy eagles with a hooked beak, high nostril, and a raised crown of feathers at the back of the head. The feathers on the staffs have different colored endings, like the striped wing and tail feathers of harpy eagles. Central and South America's largest bird of prey is an apt symbol of power that inspired many ancient images.

The colorful feathers on this figurine once created a bright blue crown, a headband and collar in vibrant red-orange-yellow, a blue-green shirt, and a skirt with five stripes in different iridescent hues. Only the figurine's face, legs, arms, and the human head it holds in each hand were left uncovered. This feather-clad warrior adorned a wall or a high-ranking person's staff at a site on Peru's north coast.

A feather cape and a bird-like tail are part of this lord's costume. The garments are striking, as few full-round Olmec figures are so richly dressed. In addition, the sides of his helmet, the front of his cape above his shoulders, and the three elements at the top of his headdress are incised with profile bird heads—including a round eye, sharp beak, and crest.

Etchings representing tattoos cover the diminutive fist and forearm. Designs include a row of birds drinking from bowls, a row of creatures with shells known as Strombus Monsters, and a row of bird warriors. In Moche art, these creatures are all associated with warfare and human sacrifice, as are the war clubs that decorate the arm and fingers.

Creating Supernaturals

Winged beings are prominent in indigenous cosmology. Whether benevolent or beastly, they were thought to wield tremendous power as they transcended the divisions between earth, sky, and the underworld. Some celestial birds could act as attendants and messengers between humans and gods, like angels in the western tradition. The staff-bearing raptors that appear in the art of many Andean cultures may have been intermediaries of this sort. Pre-Columbian kings and shamans claimed to transform into birds to go on spiritual missions.

Other supernatural birds were deities in their own right. With awesome powers of flight, speed, vision, and predation, they impacted the human realm directly and irrevocably. Large birds carrying human heads in their beaks and claws are featured in the arts of Central America and the Andes. Many Mesoamerican gods could transform into their animal selves at will, and any hummingbird, owl, or vulture could be a deity in disguise.

This creature has the hooked beak of a macaw, a vulture's caruncle above the beak, and an owl's tufts above the eyes and ears. In Maya culture, macaws held great significance as solar and regal emblems, vultures as symbols of power and fertility, and owls as messengers of the underworld. When in use on the lid of an incense burner, this piece would emit sweet smelling smoke from the mouth.

This small jade bird holds a head in its claws. The long extension of the beak is suggestive of a hummingbird's tongue, generally used to taste nectar.

Known as the Horrible Bird, the creature depicted on this vessel is well known in Nasca art. Earlier representations are less abstract and show a condor feeding on human parts. Here, a dead human being, depicted in black and white, lies above the creature's belt.

Stone Cup, Cupisnique (Peru), 900–600 BCE, Stone, PC.B.573

In front of its feline face, the creature on this cup sports the beak of a bird of prey. Feathers on its chest, tail, and wings complete its avian attire. This bird-feline adopts a position similar to that of the staff-bearing birds represented in the art of several later Andean cultures.

Four staff-bearing bird-men appear on this tunic fragment. Each has the head of a raptorial bird, elaborate wings, human-like feet, and hands carrying a staff with a beaked head at either end. Such figures are found in many Andean cultures. Following Wari weaving canons, the figures are wider in the band that was closest to the center of the textile, and more compressed in the band closer to the edge of the cloth.

Man-eating birds animated the myths and folklore of the ancient Andes. They take pride of place on this textile, holding human trophy heads in their beaks. Rows of small birds complete the design. The two large birds are probably pelicans, which appear often in Chimú iconography from Peru's north coast. It is not unusual to see representations such as this, where a monstrous pelican seals the fate of a human victim.

A Cross-Cultural Aviary

Poised for flight or perched with regal bearing, birds take pride of place on many textiles, sculptures, and jewelry. This section of the exhibition features objects from the Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine and Pre-Columbian Collections.

An abiding interest in avian forms and symbolism crosses two continents and spans centuries in the history of art. Bird-shaped ornaments, feathers, and avian iconography embellish the garments and prized possessions of the elite. Supernatural beings, often equipped with wings, beaks, or claws, reference avian powers of flight, speed, vision, speech, and predation. Bird imagery varies greatly by culture and time period, but similarities in the treatment and associations of avian forms are striking.

Birds face all directions on this mantle fragment. The tapestry border features small birds with headdresses swimming alongside or riding in fancy boats. They face left, while the rows above and below represents birds in geometric design facing to the right. The brocaded body of the cloth bears a design of diagonal rows of birds facing down.

Each brown rectangle on the body of this tassel bears a schematic bird with long open beak, facing upward. The cloth is woven in two layers—one with birds, the other with wavy lines—that alternately cross through one another. In this way, the birds literally dip under, and emerge above, the waves.

At the top of the tassel, three fantastic creatures face upward. Each has a large eye, tooth-filled jaw or beak, and a crest. A patterned wing and tail suggest that these are supernatural birds, each possibly carrying a staff or banner. The tassel was probably once attached to a long band worn wrapped around the head.

A pattern of birds in spotted diamonds covers this plaque. They pose, symmetrical and upright, as if diving upward. The row of small dots along the top edge of their tails mimics the large dots at the bottom left of the plaque, suggesting a costume or adornment. Birds bedecked in this way were probably also supernaturally empowered.

The plaque itself is part of an ornament in the shape of a shirt. The upper right corner forms part of the neck opening, while the row of large dots on the lower left marks the bottom of the sleeve. The small holes at the edges served to attach other gold plaques, and possibly a textile backing.

Four figures crouch with arms extended on the front of this shirt. At the ends of their arms are big-eyed bird-like objects with ferocious-looking beaks. The objects' bodies look like the tumi knives associated with Andean sacrificial rituals.

The shirt's two central figures have oversize headdresses decorated with many bird heads. Even the tassel-like endings of the lower headdress, collar, and legs look like stylized bird heads. Finally, the spaces around the figures are filled with little birds in different colors. The sheer abundance of bird imagery on garments, props, and background suggests that the fantastic figures, and perhaps by extension the wearer of the shirt, had a special connection to things avian.

Like many cultures, the Romans attributed significant powers of authority to the eagle. This solid-cast bronze example grips a laurel wreath in its beak, a symbol of victory in Greco-Roman antiquity, and stands with its talons splayed over the horns of a bull's head. The hollow interior of the bull's head serves to connect this finial to a pole or staff, and as such it undoubtedly served as a military ensign (insignium) on a standard. Imperial coinage of the third century employed such imagery as a symbol of divine-sanctioned might and victory. The eagle was a symbol of Jupiter, and therefore the bearer of this standard would have boasted the legion's military success, facilitated by the king of the gods.

The handle of this oil lamp comprises an elegantly rendered griffin's head—deriving from pagan mythology—while the dove and cross are symbols of Christian salvation and enlightenment through the Holy Spirit. The griffin, with its eagle's head and lion's body was associated with Apollo, the god of light, but was also widely believed to be a guardian of the divine realm. The griffin, cross, and dove combined Apolline and Christian references into a new, but short-lived cultural hybrid in the period of the transformation of the Roman Empire into a Christian Empire.

The eagle's vast wing span extends over the wolves, its prey. Both pagan and Christian associations on this panel convey the defensive nature of the creature. The eagle's protective powers are amplified with the addition of a bulla or amulet around its neck. Children in antiquity frequently wore apotropaic bulla until adulthood. When featured on the eagle in early Byzantine Egypt, the "eaglestone" amulet provided protection for pregnant women. Likely incorporated into an architectural framework, the decorative panel would have served as protection for the home.

Archangels, according to biblical sources, are celestial beings and intermediaries between God and humankind. Seraphim are the highest order of the angels responsible for protecting God's throne, and they are described as six winged creatures in the Bible. There is, however, no mention of the Archangel Gabriel with wings. The Book of Daniel relates Gabriel's visit in Daniel, 9: 21–22, "While I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight." The angel is a compelling example of the artistic adaptation of mythological characters into the Christian context. The winged goddess Nike (Victory), frequently represented in antiquity crowning emperors, is likely the inspiration for the form of the angel. The angel's ability to communicate is unique, though, and may derive from Mercury, the messenger god who was frequently depicted with wings attached to his feet.

Textiles featuring a jeweled cross flanked by birds are a common arrangement in Coptic Egypt. However, prior to the official declaration of Christianity, weavers were able to incorporate crosses onto garments in only the most unobtrusive way – such as a small cross on the back of the neck or shoulder band of a tunic. In the fifth and sixth centuries, the application of ecclesiastical symbols was encouraged. The cross in this fragment is central, and the four birds circling the arms may be doves or ducks. The dove, when placed within the cross, is often understood as a symbol of the Resurrection. Ducks, however, were extremely popular in Egypt. When applied to a garment, they would have assumed funerary significance.

The emblem of the double-headed eagle is one of the oldest in the world. The Byzantines likely adopted the double-headed bird from Babylonian and Hittite depictions popular in the ancient Near East. Emperor Isaac Komnenos (r.1057–1059) is generally believed to have first used the bicephalous eagle as an imperial emblem. The motif spread to the west, as illustrated by the ring shown next to it. Featured on the silk fragment, the creature is heavily adorned with jewels such as the pearled band at the neck, and the gold crescents with pendants which hang from each beak.

The crescent-shaped gold earrings are like the jewelry suspended from the beaks of the double-headed eagle on the silk textile fragment. The iconography of the peacock, however, places this far from the heraldic tradition. Drinking from the vases, the birds represent the Christian ideal of drinking from the fountain of life. The peacock also symbolized resurrection because of its ability to shed and grow new feathers. The openwork technique is typical of early Byzantine jewelry, and suggests that the earrings may have been produced in Constantinople.

The tri-lobed headdress of these birds easily identifies them as peacocks. The holes near the eyes would have been used to secure the ornaments to a fabric backing. The peacock's association with immortality came from the pagan belief that this bird's flesh did not decay. If these appliqués were affixed to a leather garment, the peacock's pagan symbolism then becomes apotropaic. The workmanship of these pieces is comparable, if not identical, to a sword fragment discovered in Kerch near the Crimea. The production of this luxury metalwork was probably for military regalia.

The bird incised on the bottom of this bowl is most likely a goose, walking towards the right. The green and yellow glazes effectively emphasize the form of the bird encircled by the rinceau pattern of the rim. With some exceptions, fowl were generally not imbued with the deep symbolism of many other birds. The goose is nonetheless appropriately situated in the context of this domestic ware. Various methods of preparation are recorded for the consumption of this fowl, and its movement humorously conveys an attempt to escape its culinary fate.