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Object Number 00-8-70/55346
Display Title Tapa cloth
Descriptions
Object Description Black painted tapa cloth, known as ngatu'uli. Medium-weight cloth of evenly beaten inner bark fibers of two layers. Grain direction on face side is widthwise with rear side opposite. Narrow undecorated white edges at sides, raw/natural finished, with top and bottom cut edges. Joins are overlapping with additional paste application. Paint was applied from face side (freehand painting in a matte red-brown that has penetrated to rear side with overpainting of overall glossy black that appears to have been rubbed over a wood design table/tablet. Uppermost application of a glossy or resinous dark brown black was freehand painted. A ngatu'uli of kumu kupu or ngatu'uli of kumi hoko type would have a narrow reddish border and then the unpainted tapa edges. See additional notes under conservation report.
Inventory Description Tapa, rectangular, painted black, white edges at sides
Classification
  • Tapa
Department Ethnographic
Geography/Provenience/Site Name
Oceania / Tonga / <State> / Eua Island
Additional Geographic Terms Tongatapu Group
Dimensions Overall: 190.5 x 280.67 cm (75 x 110 1/2 in.)
Quantity 1
Label on object 55436
Provenance
Collector Alexander Agassiz (1899-1900)
Collector Dr. William McMichael Woodworth (1899-1900)
Collector U.S. Fish Commission Ship Albatross Expedition (1899-1900)
Donor Alexander Agassiz (1900)

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