'tapa' cloth; light brown color; perforated over entire surface -- ground of larger holes enclosed in "boxes" of three rows of small holes; latter are arranged in triangles and other geometric shapes; 151 cm. l.; 120 cm. w.; wight 91.79g (attached label says, "Sandwich Is.") [handwritten: this type of 'kapa' made only in Hawaii]
Donor:
Lloyd W. Swift
Collection place:
Island of Hawai'i, Hawaiian Windward Islands, Hawaiian Islands
Verbatim coll. place:
Polynesia, Hawaii att.
Culture or time period:
Hawaiian
Collector:
Josephine Hall Bishop
Collection date:
1917
Materials:
Tapa (bark cloth)
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Textile samples
Function:
2.1 Daily Garb
Accession date:
June 16, 1975
Context of use:
cloths of this type were beaten onto an under layer of lighter colored cloth to achieve a contrasting effect; worn as clothing[crossed out][handwritten: No record of this; this kapa, plus its undersheet formed the 'kilohana' or upper layer of a multi-layered 'kapa moe'/ sleeping kapa, or "bed clothes". B. Kanani Burns]
Department:
Oceania
Dimensions:
width 120 centimeters, length 151 centimeters, and weight 91.8 grams
Comment:
Native name: "Kapa" - bark cloth; "Papanoanoa" called "lace kapa". Comments: "This method of making holes is NOT documented. No perforation with a "sharp instrument" is evidenced; it is speculation." Use context: "worn as clothing" crossed out (B. Burns), "No record of this; this kapa, plus its undersheet formed the "kilohana"/upper layer of a multi-layered "kapa moe" /sleeping kapa, or "bed clothes" (B. Kanani Burns)". References: See Kooijman, "Tapa in Polynesia", pp. 125-26. "Brigham, "Ka Hana Kapa", plate 43 & plate 36, 2 "Old Hawaiian Kapa" p. 219. Brigham ref. Plate 36, "A punctured sheet of dark brown kapa pasted on a white sheet. Obtained on these islands by Captain Driver about 1820. From a specimen given to the author by the Peabody Academy of Science, Salem (E. 3170)." "Plate 43, "Hawaiian Black Lace Kapa" (Bernice Bishop Museum #2450). The black color is from "Kalo" (taro) patch mud "which turns in time to a rusty brown". These "punctured" sheets while still wet are "pasted" to a light under sheet and the two are beaten together." The "paste" mentioned here may be the natural gluten which acts as an adhesive. The Hawaiian women did not use adhesive to join strips of beaten tapa as did Samoans and Tongans; Hawaiian kapa is constructed/manufactured in single sheets of desired size although sheets may themselves be layered." "Kapa", Boom Books, Hilo, H.I. 1980, Kaeppler, Adrienne L. "The Fabrics of Hawaii", 1975 (fide Barbara (Kanani) Burns, August 10, 1983).
Loans:
S1975-1976 #72: University Art Museum (UC Berkeley) (April 19, 1976–September 14, 1976), S1977-1978 #21: Doe Library (UC Berkeley) (December 7, 1977–March 9, 1978), and S1994-1995 #10: SFO Museum (April 7, 1995–July 26, 1995)