Tapa Cloth
date: label: Accession Date
content: 17 Apr 1900
label: Collection Date
content: 1899 to 1900
name: label: Collector
content: Charles H. Townsend
label: Collector
content: H. F. Moore
label: Donor Name
content: U.S. Commission of Fish & Fisheries
label: Expedition
content: Albatross Expedition / U.S. Fish Commission
label: Vessel
content: U.S. Fish Commission Steamer "Albatross"
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Double sheet, pasted together. Large sheet of coarse tapa with rude [sic] decoration in red, yellow, and dark brown. Made from bark of Puran. Said to be used for wrapping the dead. Small sample taken by K. P. Emory, Bishop Museum, 6/24/41."
label: Notes
content: Tapa is comprised of two pieces or layers of cloth assumed to be pasted together using tapou kuru/breadfruit sap (breadfruit trees exude profuse sap, which is also used for caulking canoes). Beating grooves appear slanted. This tapa is similiar to E205163, also from Aitutaki, that we believe to be made by the same person(s). Sap/gum applied at varying intervals on the tapa has hardened into a reddish compound resembling plastic, most of which remains on the bottom layer of the tapa. Gum residues vary from between half an inch to 1 and a half inches. In the past the sap was collected by cutting the bark in the morning and collecting the gum later in the day. The gum was heated before use. Three corners of the top layer of tapa have delaminated, this could be due to the bottom tapa piece/layer shrinking over time and probably aggravated by remaining in a folded state for a century. Designs on the tapa were painted freehand. Black outlines are filled in with colors. Four rectangular compartments are filled with triangular motifs as well as crescent shapes with spikes on them, which resemble milipedes (veri tinito) in motion, backs arched. Accidental spillage of the black pigment in some places around the edges. Some yellow pigmented areas have faded. Pale orange pigment could be po'oki kauvai (river stones), or karaea (clay), or mati berries (dye fig berries). Black pigment is derived from soot of burned tuitui (Aleurites moluccana, candlenut). The yellow pigment is renga (turmeric), from which the maori word for yellow is derived, renga renga, commonly used pigment in Aitutaki during the time period of collection (another source of yellow is noni, M. citrifolia root).
label: Record Last Modified
content: 5 Jun 2024
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Aitutaki Island, Cook Islands, 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: 036365
label: USNM Number
content: E205162-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Barkcloth
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 216 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 181.6 cm