Kapa (bark cloth)

Object status:

Deaccessioned

Museum number:

11-37048

Permalink:

ark:/21549/hm21110037048

Accession number:

Acc.1490

Description:

Tapa cloth sample, decorated with a series of brown, red, and black lines.

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:

Probably a woman's wrap around skirt (pa'u).

Department:

Oceania

Dimensions:

length 15.3 centimeters and width 10.9 centimeters

Comment:

A well-ruled specimen from the British Museum in the author's collection." Brigham, end, ATLAS. This is probably "kapa lalani" - "lined, striped". For a similar type see Brigham ATLAS, PL. Q no. 1 (Bernice P. Bishop Museum #2471, end of ATLAS and p.256. See also PL. R, no. 1, ATLAS, end of ATLAS and p. 238. N.B. This specimen, #11-37048, is not the "kapa ke'oke'o lalani" of Bernice P. Bishop Museum #2471; "ke'oke'o" = "white"." (fide October 5, 1983, Barbara (Kanani) Burns). Native name and meaning: "kapa" = "the blow". The beaten thing, barkcloth. Materials, techniques: "Made and decorated by women. Dyes made by men." Finished with an "ie kuku" (finishing beater) with a "mole", or flat smooth surface." (fide August 3, 1983 Barbara (Kanani) Burns). Published and References: "Brigham, "Ka Hana Kapa", PLATE Q. no. 2 (exact specimen) to scale and end of ATLAS.

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: