Piece Of Tapa
date: label: Accession Date
content: 26 Oct 1874
label: Collection Date
content: 1838 to 1842
name: label: Collector
content: Major William Rich
label: Collector
content: United States Exploring Expedition
label: Donor Name
content: Prof Spencer F. Baird
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "15090-8. INVENTORIED 1975."
label: Notes
content: 15090 - 15098 originally catalogued as just Polynesian. An unknown person pencilled in Hawaii? at a later date.
label: Notes
content: Tapa is very fine with a coarse texture. The tapa is beaten so finely that it appears transparent is some areas. Two beaters were used, one with a horizontal wave-like pattern and the other with plain vertical lines. The base is an off-white creamy color and an unknown dark brown substance has been applied to create a pattern of small and larger sized vertical lines. The larger lines alternate between groups of three and four lines. These are broken up with smaller lines, which also alternate between groups of fifteen and eleven lines. Tapa may resemble a variety of Hawaiian tapa known as mamaki due it having the following characteristics which are typical of mamaki: thin parallel lined beater marks, coarser texture, dark brownish dye, and horizontal stripped pattern. Little is actually known about the materiality and production of mamaki. Research has been carried out by Funk (1979), Rose et al. (1988) and Scharff (1996). According to Scharff (1996) mamaki is made from the Pipturus, most notably the Pipturus albidus species. Rose et al. (1988, p.26), noted that oxalic acid was found at a concentration of 1000 times more in mamaki tapa than in fresh mamaki, and suggested that the dark brown color arises from the tapa being immersed in taro mud. Bibliography: Funk, E. J. 1979, Anatomical Variation of Fibers in Five Genera of Hawaiian Urticaceae and its Significance to Ethnobotany, unpublished Master of Science thesis, University of Hawaii. Rose, R. G., Turchan, C., Firnhaber, N. & Brown, L. O. 1988, 'The Bishop Museum Tapa Collection: Conservation and Research into Special Problems', Bishop Museum Occasional Papers, vol.28, February, pp.1-34. Scharff, A. 1996, Mamaki Tapa: Identification & Deterioration, unpublished Master thesis, School of Conservation – Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen.
label: Notes
content: Dr. Adrienne Kaeppler identifies this as of Hawaiian manufacture.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 31 Jul 2020
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Hawaii (Hawaiʻi), United States, Polynesia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 74A00057
label: USNM Number
content: E15093-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Barkcloth
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 214 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 174 cm
label: Height - Object
content: 0.1 cm