Skip to main content

Visit Main Menu Block

  • Hours & Admission
  • Accessibility & Amenities
  • Tours & Group Visits
  • Visitor Guidelines

Exhibitions and Events Main Menu Block

  • Exhibitions
  • Events

Art and Design Main Menu Block

  • The Collection
  • Projects & Publications
  • Past Exhibitions

Footer Main

  • Become a Member
  • Give
  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Rent the Museum

Image

Previous 1 / 1 Next

Tongan

Wrapper or furnishing fabric, 1800s

Description

Maker

  • Unknown

Culture

Tongan

Title

Wrapper or furnishing fabric

Year

1800s

Medium

Beaten bark fiber, burnishing with pigment

Dimensions

109.2 x 170.2 cm (43 x 67 inches)

Type

  • Textiles

Credit

Museum Collection

Object Number

46.329

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Cloth Without Weaving

November 1, 2000 - February 18, 2001

One method of decorating ngatu, the Tongan term for barkcloth, employs sewn strips of leaf ribs arranged in a pattern and attached to a board. The barkcloth sheet is placed over the design board, known as a kupesi, and pigment is rubbed onto the sheet. The pattern of the leaf ribs is burnished into the sheet. The plain border is typical of Tongan ngatu.

Pacific Islands Tapa Cloth

July 17 - October 18, 1992

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Wrapper or furnishing fabric with the accession number of 46.329. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

RISD Museum

  •  Facebook
  •  Twitter
  •  Instagram
  •  Vimeo
  •  Pinterest
  •  SoundCloud

Footer Main

  • Become a Member
  • Give
  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Rent the Museum

Footer Secondary

  • Image Request
  • Press Office
  • Rent the Museum
  • Terms of Use