Tapa / cloth

Description

Tiputa or poncho made from barkcloth from the inner bark of the paper-mulberry: Polynesia, Pitcairn Island, 19th century, pre-1826

Museum reference

A.UC.360

Collection

Oceania

Object name

Tapa / cloth, Poncho

Production information

Pitcairn Island, Pitcairn Islands, Polynesia

Date

19th century

Materials

Barkcloth

Physical description

Rectangular shaped poncho with opening slit and one cut edge, the whole very thick and made up of at least five layers, with flat and fibrous surfaces in cream-white, yellow and reddish brown and a decoration on one side consisting of appliquéd pieces of barkcloth – plain and with jagged edges – and a pattern of narrow elliptical marks.

Associations

Osmer, Charles Hamilton, (d.) 1851
Beechey, Frederick William, Captain, 1796 - 1856