Mae Festa 50 Years of Collecting Textiles - Peter Pap Oriental Rugs

SOUTHEAST ASIA – Polynesia
Painted Bark Cloth (Tapa)
Early 20 th Century
Samoa
Mulberry tree bark cloth, vegetable dyes.
145 x 208 cm 57 x 81 in
Narrow bands (c. 2–3 in) stripped from the paper
mulberry are pounded on a wide log to more than ten
times the width. These panels are joined together with
vegetable glue to form much larger cloths, which are
then decorated to serve as shawls, wrappers, or hangings
for various ceremonial occasions. This tapa is quite
elegant in its balanced simplicity and the sureness of
the drawing. The slightly ribbed overall background
pattern was probably achieved by pressing the cloth
over a dyed wood matrix.
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