Kapa (bark cloth)

Object status:
Deaccessioned
Museum number:
11-37050
Permalink:
ark:/21549/hm21110037050
Accession number:
Acc.1490
Description:
Tapa cloth sample. 5 decorated bands - black, orange, black, plus two bands of freehand designs. Barkcloth, beaten bark later painted by freehand using vegetable, mineral and burnit vegetable dyes (Kooijman 117-119); Broussonetia papyrifera or paper mulberry ("wauke").
Donor:
Mary Biddle Elliott Ponting
Collection place:
Island of Hawai'i, Hawaiian Windward Islands, Hawaiian Islands
Verbatim coll. place:
Hawaii
Culture or time period:
Hawaiian
Collector:
Mrs. Herbert E. Gregory
Collection date:
unknown
Materials:
Tapa (bark cloth)
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Textile samples
Function:
8.3 For Manufacturing
Accession date:
1962
Context of use:
Originally woman's skirt.
Department:
Oceania
Dimensions:
length 15.5 centimeters and width 11 centimeters
Comment:
[pa'u] "Kapa pa'u [barkcloth skirt length] "ho'opa'i pawehe" [ho'opa'i] (Brigham, p.264)." "This specimen is reproduced to scale (Pl. V, see below) and is Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum #2777." "This specimen was cut from a kapa 2 ft 7 in. x 11.5 in. consisting of two pieces sewn together with "kapa cord" (Brigham, p. 264)". "pawehe" = generic name for colored geometric motifs, such as on mats, bowls and gourds. (Pukui / Elbert Dictionary, 1979, p. 296) to make such designs. "pawehe-pupu" = Tapa beater design. Lit., shell "pawehe" design. ibid." "This piece was beaten with an "ho'opa'i" surfaced "i'e kuku" (finishing beater). However, it did NOT have a "pawehe-pupu" design beaten in. The name given Brigham may be incorrect or may refer to the painted designs added after beating. It would seem unusual to add a modifier (pawehe) for painted designs to a modifier (ho'opa'i) for a beater surface; it is uncommon to find multiple adjectives referring to separate nouns." Native name: "Kapa = 'the blow' The beaten thing. Barkcloth". Comments: "Made and decorated by women, dyes made by men." "This was originally a "pa'u", or woman's skirt. Ellis (1853, Vol. 4, p. 112) gives the "pa'u" length as about 4 meters long and about 1 meter wide. Salem's Peabody Museum has a "pa'u" 30 meters long and 76 cm wide collected in 1830 (#E25345) Simon Kooijman p. 166." Published: "See below, Plate V (in Brigham, ATLAS)" References: "Brigham, "KA HANA KAPA" (ATLAS), Plate V, No. 1, p. 264. Kooijman, Simon "TAPA IN POLYNESIA, pa'u" 165-167. Malo, David "HAWAIIAN ANTIQUITIES", Chapter 16, pp. 48-50. Buck, Peter "Arts and Crafts of Hawaii"." (fide Barbara (Kanani) Burns, October 5, 1983)
Loans:
S1963-1964 #51: Design Department (UC Berkeley) (November 27, 1963–January 11, 1964), S1967-1968 #66: Design Department (UC Berkeley)/Joanne Segal Brandford (December 5, 1967–December 7, 1967), S1976-1977 #35: California Academy of Sciences (December 16, 1976–May 31, 1978), and S1994-1995 #10: SFO Museum (April 7, 1995–July 26, 1995)
Images:
Hearst Museum object 1 of 3 titled Kapa (bark cloth), accession number 11-37050, described as Tapa cloth sample. 5 decorated bands - black, orange, black, plus two bands of freehand designs. Barkcloth, beaten bark later painted by freehand using vegetable, mineral and burnit vegetable dyes (Kooijman 117-119); Broussonetia papyrifera or paper mulberry ("wauke").Hearst Museum object 2 of 3 titled Kapa (bark cloth), accession number 11-37050, described as Tapa cloth sample. 5 decorated bands - black, orange, black, plus two bands of freehand designs. Barkcloth, beaten bark later painted by freehand using vegetable, mineral and burnit vegetable dyes (Kooijman 117-119); Broussonetia papyrifera or paper mulberry ("wauke").Hearst Museum object 3 of 3 titled Kapa (bark cloth), accession number 11-37050, described as Tapa cloth sample. 5 decorated bands - black, orange, black, plus two bands of freehand designs. Barkcloth, beaten bark later painted by freehand using vegetable, mineral and burnit vegetable dyes (Kooijman 117-119); Broussonetia papyrifera or paper mulberry ("wauke").

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