Flax Cloak
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1858
label: Collection Date
content: 1840
name: label: Donor Name
content: United States Exploring Expedition
notes: label: Notes
content: "KAITAKA PARAWAI" FLAX CLOAK WOVEN W/ BIAS-WEFTS RUNNING HORIZONTALLY COMMENCING AT THE NECK BORDER. THE SIDES ARE EDGED W/ NARROW "TANIKO" BORDERS & THE BOTTOM HAS A WIDE 21 CM. BORDER WITH TRIANGULAR, DIAMOND & CHEVRON PATTERNS IN BROWN, BLACK AND NATURAL COLORS WITH ADDITIONAL WOOL THREADS IN BLUE AND RED. PORTIONS OF THE "TANIKO" PATTERN ARE RAISED. THERE ARE 71 CONTINUOUS WEFT ROWS WHICH ARE 1.5 CM. WIDTH. VARIOUS INSERTS WHICH GIVE SHAPE TO THE GARMENT INCLUDE SEVEN SIMPLE ELLIPTICALS AT THE SHOULDERS AND BUTTOCKS AND ONE GORING INSERT NEAR THE LOWER BORDER. MARKS. ATTACHED TAG READS, "RIESENBERG NO. 7". THIS CLOAK WAS LISTED AS ET9352, AND RIESENBERG # 7, AND MAY BE A WILKES PIECE. THE CLOAK IS WATER STAINED. THE WATER STAINING MAY POSSIBLY BE A RESULT OF THE 1865 FIRE IN THE SMITHSONIAN CASTLE, OR PERHAPS ALSO WAS SUSTAINED FROM USE OR DURING THE OCEAN VOYAGE FROM NEW ZEALAND TO THE U.S.?
label: Notes
content: In the 1980's, Jane Walsh had tentatively identified cloak ET9352 as a Wilkes piece, and given it # E3770, however, in 2018, the real E3770 was located in National Museum of American History, Division of Home and Community Life (Division of Textiles), storage at the Garber Facility Building 19. Therefore the cloak Jane Walsh studied has been returned to number ET9352. As it has been tentatively identified as a Wilkes/U.S. Exploring Expedition collection piece, the object has been given the Exploring Expedition Accession number of 66A00050 to facilitate research. One possible number for it is E3767, a U.S. Exploring Expedition cloak which has not been located to date.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 28 Aug 2019
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: North Island (Te Ika-a-Māui) (not certain) / Bay of Islands (not certain), New Zealand (Aotearoa), Polynesia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Maori
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 66A00050
label: USNM Number
content: ET9352-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Cloak
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 90 cm
label: Width - Bottom
content: 207 cm
label: Width - Top
content: 165 cm
label: Length - Object
content: 90 cm
label: Width - Object Bottom
content: 207 cm
label: Width - Object Top
content: 165 cm