Bowl with a Figure Holding a Macaw
Hopi Tribe (Hopi, First Mesa, Arizona, United States)
1400–1625
- Medium
- Ceramic and pigment
- Classification
- Ceramics
- Dimensions
- 11.5 × 31.6 × 31 cm (4 9/16 × 12 1/2 × 12 1/4 in.)
- Culture
- Arizona
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of the Americas
- Credit line
- Gift of Edward and Betty Harris
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
The bisected design of this bowl interior features a field of paint spatter contrasting with a standing figure holding a macaw in his outstretched hand. The figure depicts a ritualist wearing an embroidered kilt and a pair of feathers in his hair. He is further ornamented with polychrome paint that covers his face, torso, and arms. The red color and long tail feathers of the bird indicate that it is a scarlet macaw, a type of parrot traded from Mexico. These birds were symbolically associated with the power of the sun and agricultural abundance, and their brilliant feathers were highly valued in ceremonial contexts.
Modern-day Pueblo communities leave prayer sticks adorned with feathers at specific sacred places in the landscape. These ritual objects are offered as prayers to the gods and the natural elements, asking them to bring rainclouds to regenerate the crops in the cultivated fields.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
