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Wari. <em>Four-Cornered Hat</em>, 650–1000. Cotton, reed, feathers, 6 11/16 x 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. (17 x 14 x 14 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, 41.228. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 41.228_overall_PS9.jpg)
Wari. Four-Cornered Hat, 650–1000. Cotton, reed, feathers, 6 11/16 x 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. (17 x 14 x 14 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, 41.228. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 41.228_overall_PS9.jpg)
Wari. <em>Four-Cornered Hat</em>, 650–1000. Cotton, reed, feathers, 6 11/16 x 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. (17 x 14 x 14 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, 41.228. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 41.228_overall_PS9.jpg)

Wari. Four-Cornered Hat, 650–1000. Cotton, reed, feathers, 6 11/16 x 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. (17 x 14 x 14 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, 41.228. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 41.228_overall_PS9.jpg)

Wari. <em>Four-Cornered Hat</em>, 650–1000. Cotton, reed, feathers, 6 11/16 x 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. (17 x 14 x 14 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, 41.228. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 41.228_SL1.jpg)

Wari. Four-Cornered Hat, 650–1000. Cotton, reed, feathers, 6 11/16 x 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. (17 x 14 x 14 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, 41.228. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 41.228_SL1.jpg)

Wari. <em>Four-Cornered Hat</em>, 650–1000. Cotton, reed, feathers, 6 11/16 x 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. (17 x 14 x 14 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, 41.228. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 41.228_top_PS9.jpg)

Wari. Four-Cornered Hat, 650–1000. Cotton, reed, feathers, 6 11/16 x 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. (17 x 14 x 14 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, 41.228. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 41.228_top_PS9.jpg)

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Four-Cornered Hat

Arts of the Americas

While square hats are characteristic of the Wari culture, they are usually made of camelid fibers. On this hat, feathers have been attached to a cloth and reed foundation and cut into a mosaic design to create a headdress of exceptional brilliance and beauty. The motifs are similar to those found on fiber hats and other Wari textiles: profile feline heads alternate with a four-part design composed of squares and triangles, repeated on all four sides. The Wari, like other ancient Andean peoples, valued tropical forest birds for their bright, iridescent plumage. They probably considered feathered garments such as mantles, tunics, and headdresses to be high-prestige items because feathers and live birds had to be imported from the distant Amazon jungle. This headdress with vivid mosaic work was probably worn for ceremonial occasions.
CULTURE Wari
MEDIUM Cotton, reed, feathers
  • Place Found: South Coast, Peru
    • DATES 650–1000
    PERIOD Middle Horizon Period
    DIMENSIONS 6 11/16 x 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. (17 x 14 x 14 cm)  (show scale)
    COLLECTIONS Arts of the Americas
    ACCESSION NUMBER 41.228
    CREDIT LINE A. Augustus Healy Fund
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Square-shaped hat of woven cotton cloth over a reed frame decorated with multicolored mosaic feather-work. The feathers were glued to thin bark or fiber cloth and cut precisely into the required shapes. Then they were glued to the fiber cloth stretched over the reed framework. The design consists of crested jaguar heads that alternate with step patterns and triangles contained in squares. The design on the top of the hat is four triangles with step frets within. Condition: good; some losses.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Wari. Four-Cornered Hat, 650–1000. Cotton, reed, feathers, 6 11/16 x 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. (17 x 14 x 14 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, 41.228. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 41.228_overall_PS9.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 41.228_overall_PS9.jpg., 2018
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
    You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.
    Wari. <em>Four-Cornered Hat</em>, 650–1000. Cotton, reed, feathers, 6 11/16 x 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. (17 x 14 x 14 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, 41.228. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 41.228_overall_PS9.jpg)

    TAGS

    Wari
    Fez
    hat
    orange
    eye
    blue
    cotton
    reed
    feathers
    accessory
    square
    pattern
    colorful

    TAGS

    Wari
    Fez
    hat
    orange
    eye
    blue
    cotton
    reed
    feathers
    accessory
    square
    pattern
    colorful

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