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Object Number 77-37-70/11692
Display Title Tapa cloth
Descriptions
Object Description Tapa cloth. Nearly square, unpigmented, medium weight cloth composed of pounded off-white inner bark fibers. Several layer are present, however this is difficult to determine because the cloth is so finely worked or beaten together; the layers are in parallel grain directions. The edges of the cloth are cut; several small areas do retain an original pounded edge finish. The cloth has a surface texture made by a a beater; it has a fine ribbed pattern. Identifying marks and numbers: Two Peabody Museum catalogue numbers in red are present centrally on one side of the cloth. An inscription in black, "Tappa. Made from the leaves of the Paper Mulberry. Picairn Island. South Pacific Island."
Inventory Description Tapa, rectangular, buff with embossed lines, stained, creased from folding
Classification
  • Tapa
Department Ethnographic
Geography/Provenience/Site Name
Oceania / United Kingdom / Pitcairn Island
Dimensions Overall: 88 x 70 cm (34 5/8 x 27 9/16 in.)
Quantity 1
Label on object 77-37-70/11692; 11.692 / Tappa. / Made from the leaves of the Paper Mulberry. /
Provenance
Collector Capt. I. S. Knowles
Donor Mrs. Lucien Carr (1877)

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