Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability

CAS Anthropology Collections Database


Catalog Number CAS 2018-0003-0006   CAS 2018-0003-0006; Tapa cloth
Category Textiles
Object Name Tapa cloth
Culture Polynesian: Samoan
Global Region Oceania
Country Samoa
State/Prov./Dist.
County
Other Geographic Data American Samoa
Maker's Name unknown
Date of Manufacture ca. 1930s to early 1940s
Collection Name N/A
Materials Mulberry bark; Dyes
Description Rectangular tapa cloth cut from larger cloth and made from several layers of bark that have been individually beaten flat and then overlapped to form a single cloth; All edges have been trimmed fairly straight; Tapa has been cut down or its size was possibly miscalculated by the maker; Design includes fine lines representing a net (for catching fish, turtles, birds), as well as elements like trochus shells; Design could be interpreted as "harvest from the ocean"; Design field is divided into 30 roughly rectangular blocks, each of which display a single, repeating design motif; Each of the 30 blocks are further divided into two smaller rectangular areas, each displaying a flattened, pigmented triangle spanning the area diagonally, with horizontal and vertical fine line motif filling in the background; These rectangles within the design blocks are bordered laterally by either a solid pigmented rectangular block, or a rectangular block with a two-tone zigzag pattern and are bordered proximally and distally by a thin rectangular band of the same two-tone zigzag pattern; The perimeter is bordered by a thin black rectangular block.
Dimensions (cm) Width = ca. 144.0, Thickness = 0.1, Length = ca. 150.0