Footed bowls like this were typical of the Nariño region of southern Colombia (and also Carchi in what is now northern Ecuador). In this example, an artist used dark brown slip paint to decorate the perfectly smooth, burnished interior, dividing the space into four equal slices—two featuring stylized parrots, the others filled with crosshatching. Skillfully made and showing no sign of wear, this bowl would not have been a utilitarian serving or dining vessel but was probably created as a funerary offering and for ceremonial practices.
Birds are one of the most common figurative motifs found on Nariño ceramics and, while stylized, it is sometimes possible to distinguish broad types such as parrots in contrast to others such as wading birds (see M.2007.146.173, .176, .185, .197, and .206). In Andean cosmology, parrots, particularly macaws, carried significant symbolic weight. Macaw feathers were traded across long distances, linking the Amazonian rainforest, the Cordillera, and the remote Pacific coast. Their bright plumage was used to decorate elaborate textiles that were markers of great distinction for elites powerful and connected enough to commission them (see M.74.49, M.77.70.12, M.77.70.13, and M.80.71.4). Still today, colorful feathers are essential in the ceremonial costumes and tools of ritual specialists, and particular birds continue to hold very specific meanings. The Airo-Pai of the Peruvian Amazon, for example, view green parrots as representing living women.
