Piece Of Tapa
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: "INVENTORIED 1975."
label: Notes
content: Tapa is marked in old ink/handwriting "Upolu I, Navigator Group", presumably during original cataloguing in 1874.
label: Notes
content: Bark cloth "siapo".The material of the siapo comes from the inner bark of the paper mulberry (broussonetia papyrifera). After the inner bark was removed from the plant, and left to soak in water, it would have been beaten by a wooden mallet on an anvil, to become a sheet of u'a. Sheets of u'a were then pasted together with a natural adhesive, such as arrow-wood. Regina Meredith (4th generation Siapo Artist and Art Professor, American Samoa) 2013, identified the siapo as a siapo tasiga, which means a siapo decorated in the rubbing style. According to Meredith, the siapo tasiga is the older and more traditional style of siapo. She also identified the motifs. The circular motif is a ila (meaning birthmark) and the triangular motif is named Aliao. She also identified that darker lines and circles as being painted on with o'a and the rubbing, as mixture of o'a and ele. Meredith also noted that there is no further significance behind the motifs and that the designs were chosen randomly. Per Regina Meredith: o'a = dark brown liquid lama = ash (black powder) ele = brownish red ochre u'a = one sheet of plain tapa siapo tasiga = tapa with rubbed pattern; older style; original method siapo mamanu = tapa with designs drawn with freehand; style started in the late 19th century upeti = board ila = birthmark aliao = two triangles joined together "The rubbing is a mixture of o'a and ele" "Siapo does not have a story, designs are more random" "The ash is from the candle nut seeds. Very very black!"
label: Notes
content: NMNH Curator of Oceania, Adrienne Kaeppler confirms the tapa is Samoan with related Tongan designs. (September 2013).
label: Record Last Modified
content: 4 Oct 2016
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Upolu Island, Samoa (Western Samoa), 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: 74A00057
label: USNM Number
content: E15084-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Barkcloth
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 191 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 166 cm
label: Length - Object
content: 162.9 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 108.3 cm