Barkcloth 'ahu
Place: Tahiti & Society Islands
Category: Barkcloth
Tahiti and the Society Islands, l. 111 cm, w. 187 cm, Inv. Oz 616
Forster c. 1780(?)
One of two pieces of thick and soft cloth that are multi-layered and undyed. The edges of the short sides of the piece Oz 616 are dyed reddish. In addition, this cloth has an opening cut into the centre, so it may be assumed that it served as a ‘poncho-like’ garment, tiputa and Inv. Oz 621; Oz 625. The centre strip of Oz 617 is glued together, up to what could be a neck opening, at both ends.
According to the Osiander list (1812-15), these two pieces might be two from the numbers 4a, b, or c. These pieces are probably part of those barkcloth pieces which came to Göttingen around 1780 due to G. Forster. Gundolf Krüger