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Narrative

Costume purchased c. 1960 from ‘Soika’ (spelling uncertain) gallery in Quito, Ecuador. Its intended use is unknown.

Description

Ceremonial bark cloth costume. The garment is a vest, slightly longer in front, completely open along the sides, with narrow shoulders and a deep v-neck at front. On the front a large toucan bird is attached at centre, wings spread to the sides, beak pointing downward. Linear designs have been lightly carved into the beak. To the bird’s sides two smaller beaks are sewn to the cloth, as are groupings of feathers dyed red, yellow and brown, several with seeds at their centre. Yellow and red feathers surround the v-neck. On the back of the garments is a smaller bird, black, with a serrated yellow and black beak and a strip of red and white feathers on the tail. Large, dyed feathers splay outward from the top of the body. Portions of bird beaks surround the creature. On front and back of vest, the bark cloth is heavily painted with zigzag, ‘x’ and other motifs in brown, yellow and red. Small, oval, black and red seeds line the edges and neck of the vest, as well as a decorative strip of feathers near the bottom where additional bark cloth has been sewn to the garment, front and back. Small dyed feathers hang from quills below this strip, while long feathers dangle from the bottom of the vest. These are dyed blue yellow and orange.