ICA-Art Conservation

ICA is a unique arts, culture, and education nonprofit that provides access to conservation expertise, knowledge, and skill for all stewards of material cultural through services and programs. As an educational nonprofit, ICA works with arts, culture, education, history, neighborhood, public, and private partners to make our communities stronger and more successful by educating about material culture and sharing the means to preserve works of art and other cultural treasures for people today and for future generations. ICA, founded in Oberlin in 1952, was the nation’s first non-profit regional art conservation center. Originally known as the Intermuseum Conservation Association, ICA was established by the directors of six major Midwestern museums in order to provide professional, high quality, and cost-effective art conservation services and specialized graduate level conservation education.

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Resources from ICA-Art Conservation

Resource Kit

Feathery Fun - The Care and Conservation of Feathers

Feathery fun! Dive into what makes feathers so colorful and how different cultures used them to make artworks and objects. Learn about how art conservators study and care for this beautiful and delicate material.

Created by: ICA-Art Conservation

Feathered Tabard or Tunic

Feather mosaic on cotton

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Feathered Panel

Of all the luxury textile types made in the ancient Andes, feathered cloth was one of the most esteemed. This panel may come from a buried offering that contained more than a half-dozen large human-effigy vessels made of ceramic; inside the vessels were 96 rolled panels, all covered with the feathers of the tropical blue-and-yellow macaw. The ties that survive on the upper corners of some panels suggest they served as hangings that transformed a space from mundane to radiant and ceremonial.

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Headdress Ornament

Hair ornaments depicting flowers, butterflies, or birds were worn by ladies of the Manchu elite class.

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Lady Smith and Her Children

Lady Smith and Her Children

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Warrior Figurine with Removable Headdress

The major offerings placed in the Maya graves of Jaina Island were ceramic figurines, some of Mesoamerica's finest, that depict deities and humans in a variety of roles. This warrior, his headdress removable, once probably held weapons and wears either quilted cotton armor or the feathered uniform of a military order. We don't know why such figures are often pot-bellied.

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Stained Glass Roundel with an Angel Holding a Scroll

The term pot-metal refers to glass that received its color in the melting pot when various metallic oxides were added. It was then possible to paint the surface of the glass in order to outline, decorate, and define details such as eyes and hair--as may be observed on this stained glass pan

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Ceremonial Helmet; part of a Ceremonial Uniform

The ceremonial uniform was considerably heavy; the jacket alone weighs 2.38 kg (5.25 lbs).

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Headdress

This headdress has an ingenious built-in storage system: it can be flipped inside out to encase the feathers within a rigid woven structure, protecting them during storage or travel. Hundreds of red tail feathers from the grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus) decorate this disk-shaped headdress. Only the king, some high-ranking individuals, and members of the all-male elephant society—known in different languages as Kuosi, Nekang, or Kem-ndze—wore this prestigious headgear at ceremonies and funerals. Typically, the headdress was worn pushed slightly back from the hairline. When used by members of the elephant society, it was accompanied by a cloth and glass bead mask (mbap mteng) in the shape of that animal, such as 1985.1082.

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Seated Lord with Removable Headdress

The major Maya grave offerings on Jaina Island were ceramic figurines that depict deities and humans in a variety of roles. The standing figure represents a warrior who once probably held weapons and wears either quilted cotton armor or the feathered uniform of a military order. The seated figure also represents a male, perhaps another warrior, who wears a huge zoomorphic headdress. A skeletal face with articulated jaw descends from the headdress to fit as a mask over the figure’s face.

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Front Face of a Stela (Free-standing Stone with Relief)

The powerful Maya queen shown on this stela is known as Lady K’abel. In stone sculpture, Maya rulers celebrated the milestones of their reigns with flamboyant portraits like this image of a royal woman, created to mark the passage of a twenty-year period known as the k’atun. She originally stood in a plaza next to a portrait of her spouse (see photo), with whom she ruled El Perú-Waka’, a provincial Maya town. A member of the powerful dynasty of a nearby Maya center, she seems to have held higher authority than her husband, serving as a military governor. Her costume reflects her status: the headdress has a fan of green quetzal feathers and her jewelry probably refers to jade-both among the most prized of ancient materials. Jade beads also may form the net over her garment, belted with the head of a fish-like creature. Completing the costume are the scepter and shield she grasps in her hands. The dwarf at her side may be a court attendant. The hieroglyphic text refers to important dynastic dates.

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Vulture Headdress Inlay

The vulture headdress was worn by goddesses and queens. This inlay in the form of a vulture headdress has more than 100 stones: lapis lazuli (dark blue), turquoise (light blue), petrified wood (red), and an unidentified white stone painstakingly cut to shape and separated by thin plates of gold. Body, wing, and tail feathers are carefully distinguished in minute detail.

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Hulagu Khan giving a feast and dispensing favor upon the amirs and princes

Seated on a lapis-blue floral carpet is Chingiz (Genghis) Khan’s grandson, who ruled Iran from 1256 to 1265. This painting is from an illustrated copy of the history of Chingiz Khan and his family that the Mughal emperor Akbar commissioned toward the end of the latter’s life. Mughal is the Persian word for Mongol, and Akbar traced direct genealogical descent from Chingiz Khan on his mother’s side. The nomadic Mongols created court settings using portable platforms and elegant carpets and tents. Multilevel canopies of imperial crimson mark the position of the khan, which means “ruler” in Mongolian. Mongol rulers were identified by the five-feathered crown.

ICA-Art Conservation

Introduction

Feathery Fun - The Care and Conservation of Feathers

Pelerine (Collar or Cape) c. 1830–1860 Northeastern Woodlands, Great Lakes/St. Lawrence River Region or Europe Cotton, peacock feathers, guinea fowl feathers, Gadwalls duck feathers. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the Textile Art Alliance in honor of their 60th Anniversary, 1996.14

Created by: ICA-Art Conservation

Artists' Fascination with Feathers

Feathery Fun - The Care and Conservation of Feathers

While feathers have been used in artworks and objects all over the world and across time, their importance means that artists have also frequently depicted feathers in all kinds of other artworks. Whether included for their color, symbolism, or their connotations of rarity and elegance, feathers are found in textiles, paintings and drawings, patterns on sculptures, and objects in glass, stone and metal. Explore some different materials in this activity - which do you like best?

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Feathers Around the World

Feathery Fun - The Care and Conservation of Feathers

Explore objects from different times and cultures with a focus on feathers

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The Colors of Feathers

Feathery Fun - The Care and Conservation of Feathers

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Fun Feather Activities

Feathery Fun - The Care and Conservation of Feathers

There are many different ways to learn about feathers in fun, hands-on activities:

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Care and Preservation of Feathers

Feathery Fun - The Care and Conservation of Feathers

Created by: ICA-Art Conservation

The Deterioration of Feathers

Feathery Fun - The Care and Conservation of Feathers

Headdress Ornament 1800s–1900s. China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911) Copper-silver alloy, gilding, kingfisher feathers, glass beads

Created by: ICA-Art Conservation

The Structure of Feathers

Feathery Fun - The Care and Conservation of Feathers

Feathers are made of the protein called keratin, which also makes up human hair and fingernails. The well-structured feathers that help birds fly are called contour feathers, which are a type of pennaceous feather. The softer, less-structured downy feathers that birds use for warmth are called plumulaceous feathers. The structure of the feathers generally makes them inedible for birds themselves, though the Slovenian Grebe birds regularly consume their own feathers! Can you name any of the parts of a feather?

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Crazy for Feathers

Feathery Fun - The Care and Conservation of Feathers

A Gentleman and a Lady Riding to the Chase, 1506. Lucas Cranach (German, 1472–1553)

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Learn about Art Conservation

Feathery Fun - The Care and Conservation of Feathers

Created by: ICA-Art Conservation

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