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Tapa Cloth Beater (l'e kuku)

before 1930
wood
Overall: 38.7 cm (15 1/4 in.)
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Munro 1971.152
Location: not on view
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Description

To make tapa, a decorated bark cloth, Hawaiian women used the four-sided beater to pound the inner bark of the paper mulberry tree, softened by a week of soaking in sea water. The cloth was beaten in several stages, starting with the most coarsely grooved side of the mallet and gradually reaching the finest grooved side. Although many Polynesian groups produced tapa cloth, only Hawaiian tapa cloth beaters were incised with a variety of "watermark" patterns. The prepared cloth was decorated with overlaying, cord snapping, free-hand painting, and printing techniques.
Tapa Cloth Beater (l'e kuku)

Tapa Cloth Beater (l'e kuku)

before 1930

Polynesia, Hawaii, 20th century

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