Tapa cloth - Specimen details
| Catalogue Number: 42953 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Image | Plant Name | 153.05 MORACEAE Broussonetia papyrifera | Entry Book Number | 12:1850 | |
| Artefact Name | Tapa cloth | Vernacular Name | |||
| Iso Country | Cook Islands | TDWG Region | Cook Islands | ||
| Parts Held | Tapa cloth | Geography Description | Cook Islands | ||
| Uses | Tapa clothUse: MATERIALS - Fibres User: Man | TDWG use | MATERIALS - Fibres | ||
| Storage | Extra-large shelving | Related Items | |||
| Donor | Christy W M | Donor No | |||
| Donor Date | 14/03/1850 | Donor Notes | (Probably William Miller Christy) | ||
| Collector | Collector No | ||||
| Collection Notes | Collection Date | ||||
| Exhibition | Expedition | ||||
| Number Components | Publication | ||||
| Notes: | Measures 12ft by 5ft 6in.x0Dx0ADecorated with painted patterns and animals resembling lizards.x0Dx0ARe-measured in 2005 as 3.7m x 1.8m (at widest points).x0Dx0Ax0Dx0ACorrespondence with Cook Islands Library and Museum Society 2006:x0Dx0AAnimals are most likely to be centiped, es. The centipede is the totem of the chief Pa Ariki of the Takitumu District of Rarotonga so the tapa may have originated there (PaAriki is one of 5 chiefs of Rarotonga). The centipede totem is still revered by her and her family - it is the symbol of Ir, o (the great Polynesian ancestor/ explorer, aka Te Whiro (in NZ) and Hiro in Tahiti/ Hilo in Hawaii, who had a centipede-shaped birthmark on his back which would writhe when Iro was angered).x0Dx0Ax0Dx0AItem loaned to Glasgow University for research and conservat, ion as part of the 'Situating Pacific barkcloth production in time and place' project (Collaboration between RBG Kew, University of Glasgow & Smithsonian. Arts & Humanities Research Council funded) Dec 2016- 2018 www.tapa.gla.ac.uk | ||||