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 PAEPAEROA" CLOAK WITH WIDE "TANIKO" BORDERS ON THREE SIDES (ACCORDING TO D.R. SIMMONS THIS IS AN EAST COAST BAY OF ISLANDS STYLE). THERE ARE 97 CONTINUOUS WEFT ROWS AT THE NECK, & 96 AT THE LOWER BORDER WHICH ARE 1.5 CM WIDE. THE GARMENT IS SHAPED BY INSERTS INCLUDING TWO LATERIAL WEDGE-SHAPES, AND TWO MESIAL WEDGE-SHAPED COMPOUND INSERTS. THERE ARE TWO PANELS OF DECORATION EMPLOYING RED, GREEN, AND BLUE WOOL THREAD IN SHORT LOOP ORNAMENTATION. THE "TANIKO" COLORS ARE BLACK, BROWN AND NATURAL COLORS WITH RED, ORANGE, BLUE AND GREEN WOOL COLORS ON THE TRIANGLES. THE CLOAK IS BADLY WATER STAINED. THE EXTENSIVE 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.? HAS ORIGINAL PEALE TAGS, 526 & 529. THE CLOAK WAS EXAMINED BY MARTHA COOPER, 1967, BY D.R. SIMMONS 1974, AND DESCRIBED BY DESMOND KAHOTEA, 1984.
label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "D. R. SIMMONS: PAEPAEROA CLOAK WITH TANIKO ON THREE SIDES (EAST COAST STYLE). DECORATIVE RED AND BLUE WOOL STITCHING IN TWO PANELS AT LEFT AND RIGHT BOTTOM, ORANGE, RED, BLUE WOOL USED IN TANIKO. WEFT LINES 1.5 CM APART WITH EIGHT VERTICAL INSERTS ON EITHER SIDE. NOV. 1974."
label: Notes
content: Peale catalogue identifies # 523 - 530 as "Blanket mats called "Kaitoke" woven by hand from thread made of the native flax (Phormium tenax)." Additional information from D.R. Simmons, Curator, Auckland Institute and Museum, Auckland, New Zealand, 1973. Simmons notes that these cloaks would more properly be called Kaitaka, i.e. flax cloaks with patterned taniko borders, because Kaitoke = earthworm.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 26 Apr 2018
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: North Island (Te Ika-a-Māui) / Bay of Islands, 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: E3835-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Cloak
physicalDescription: label: Length - Bottom
content: 153 cm
label: Unknown - Object
content: 147 cm
label: Width - Bottom
content: 157 cm
label: Width - Top
content: 180 cm
label: Length - Object
content: 153 cm
label: Width - Object Botom
content: 157 cm
label: Width - Object Top
content: 180 cm