cape
- Museum number
- Oc1988,Q.1
- Description
-
Cape (Ahu 'ula), trapezoidal shaped made from olona fibre (Touchardia Latifolia) netting to which the red, yellow, white and black feathers are attached. Red i'iwi feathers are attached complete with sections of skin. A band of red i'iwi (Vestiaria Coccinea) with some red apapane (Himatione Sanguinea) feathers is edged at the top and bottom with a narrow band of yellow o'o (Moho Nobilis) and/or yellow mamo (Drepanis Pacifica) feathers. A central panel of white chicken feathers is bordered by black chicken feathers (Gallus gallus).
A thick fibre plait at the top with ties at the ends.
- Production date
- 18thC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 58 centimetres
-
Width: 140 centimetres
-
Depth: 1 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
Found unnumbered in collections; source of acquisition unknown.
-
On 20th May 2014 Julian Hume from the Natural History Museum visited four Hawaiian capes in the Oceanic collection. He identified the feathers on this cape; the white feathers and the long black feathers are Polynesian chicken feathers. The red feathers are predominantly i'iwi (Vestiaria Coccinea) but with some apapane (Himatione Sanguinea). The shorter yellow feathers are mamo (Drepanis Pacifica) and the longer, plume like feathers are likely to be o'o feathers (Moho nobilis). There are thought to be over 100 small pieces of bird (i'iwi) skin on this cape.
-
Illustrated in M. Christy. The rare feather work of Hawaii. Windsor Magazine. 1899. p.728. Also in A. Kaeppler. Hawaiian Featherwork. Catalogue Nationalgalerie, Berlin 2010, p. 153; and A. Kaeppler & S. Stone. Holophusicon- the Leverian Museum. Altenstadt, Germany. 2011. p.122, fig.5.42.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2015-2016 29 Aug-10 Apr, San Francisco, DeYoung Museum, Royal Hawaiian Featherwork: Na Hulu Ali'I
- Acquisition notes
- Acquisition details unknown.
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Oc1988,Q.1
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: N.N. 2
