Fine Mat
date: label: Accession Date
content: 29 Jul 2005
label: Collection Date
content: 1924
name: label: Donor Name
content: Claire F. Marlowe
notes: label: Notes
content: Adrienne Kaeppler, Curator of Oceanic Ethnology, notes: "In the Samoan hierarchy of material culture, these fine mats outrank all other materials (including money). They are associated with high ranking Samoan titles and were used primarily for presentation (as a valuable) for funerals, weddings, and installation of titles..." (see accession file). See Penelope Schoeffel, "Samoan Exchange and Fine Mats: An Historical Reconsideration" in Journal of the Polynesian Society, June 1999.
label: Notes
content: Mat made of woven grasses with long fringe on 2 ends. One end also has a sewn-on trim made from dried leaves, cut to make points, with red feathers. Very brittle. Collected by the donor's father, "a young lieutenant" in the Navy in 1924.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 2 Dec 2014
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: American Samoa, United States, Polynesia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Samoan
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 2036385
label: USNM Number
content: E431902-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Mat