Magic Feathers: Textile Art from Ancient Peru

By James R. Reid

Feather artwork was made for over 2000 years in the Andean world, from the pre-Hispanic period to the mid 16th century, when the Spanish conquerors, fearful of sorcery, destroyed feather artefacts whenever possible. Surviving pieces are scattered in museums around the world and have never been approached as a significant body of material culture till now. Reid’s book is a tremendous scholarly effort that covers the chronology of these pieces, their characteristics, design, construction, cultural milieu and significance of motifs, and is gorgeously illustrated too.

This large-format book is cloth bound and comes in a slipcase.