Piece Of Tapa, Turban
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: This type of fringed kapa with fibers visible is atyical for Hawaii. 2-layer, both very fine, thin and transluscent, especially inner layer.
label: Notes
content: Sagale Buadromo, Director of the Fiji Museum, and Mereia Luvunakora, Assistant Registrar of the Fiji Museum, identify this object as a Fijian tapa cloth turban (i sala). Dr. Adrienne Kaeppler, Curator of Oceanic Ethnology, concurs with this identification.
label: Notes
content: According to Troxler (1971), as the tapa for an i sala was beaten to be so thin and was also bleached in the sun, it had the appearance of a fine muslin. This type of tapa was used as a turban to dress a Chief's head, considered to be the holiest body part. Hence, an I sala was a symbol of nobility, with lower ranked Chiefs forbidden from wearing an i sala before a Chief of higher rank. According to Luvunakoro, the i sala was only worn by male Chiefs during special occasions or ceremonies and they stopped being worn when the Christians arrived in the 1830s. Neich & Pendergrast (1997) note that the textured asymmetrical triangular designs commonly found on i sala is formed by pulling one edge of a hole, formed during the beating process, over the other edge. These triangular patches were considered to be decorative and were sometimes created, even when there was no need for a patch. The pleats found on the i sala were created by folding it horizontally in increments of about one to three centimeters. According to Smithsonian Oceanic Ethnology curator, Adrienne Kaeppler, the i sala was traditionally stored folded, firstly along the pleat lines and then folded again in half. The top half of the i sala is much finer and fairly transparent compared to the bottom half, which is thicker and opaque. The i sala is also covered with a textured pattern of asymmetrical triangles. Community Scholar, Mereia Luvunakoro noted that it is likely that it would have been paired with a smaller masi, which would not have been pleated and would be the size of a large handkerchief. This piece would have been worn over the head and the larger pleated piece would have been wrapped around it. Tapa has a brown stain. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) was carried out on the stains in August 2013 by the Smithsonian Conservation Scientist, Jennifer Giaccai, and again by Smithsonian Archaeologist, Eric Hollinger. The results were compared to a known human blood sample. The XRF readings of the stained area detected a very high peak in iron, whereas the known human blood sample had a much lower iron peak, which suggests that the stain is not human blood. Other Fijian turbans in the collection were also examined, to help determine which creases were from storage and which ones were ethnographic. After comparing the i sala with others in the Smithsonian collection, it was concluded that the crease along the middle and the pleats are ethnographic. Bibliography: Neich, R. & Pendergrast, M. 1997, Pacific Tapa, David Bateman Ltd., Auckland, pp.104-5. Troxler, G.S. 1971, Fijian Masi: a traditional art form, The Piedmonth Press, Greensboro, North California, pp.6-7
label: Record Last Modified
content: 31 Jul 2020
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Fiji, Melanesia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Fijian
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: E15097-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Turban
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 175.7 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 105.6 cm