Siapo (tapa cloth)

This rectangular siapo is decorated with stars, circular and crescent motifs inside squares. The dyes used were black, brown, red, yellow, and purple. Borders have red and black triangular designs on all four sides. There are nail holes on the sides.

Natural colours

The design on this siapo tasina (rubbed cloth) is made by laying the cloth over an 'upeti (rubbing board) and rubbing it with dye. The raised pattern on the 'upeti is transferred onto the cloth, which is then painted.

The black dye is made from soot gathered after burning candlenut seeds. To give it a shine, the soot is mixed with reddish-brown dye from the o’a tree bark. Other plant dyes have also been used – the bright red dye from the seeds of the loa tree, and yellow from the turmeric plant. Purple dye from the trunk of the banana tree has been used for painting.

Acquisition

This siapo was collected between 1887 and 1902 by Reverend Archibald E Hunt, a missionary working in Samoa in the 1890s. It was gifted to the Dominion Museum (Te Papa’s predecessor) by Mr L A Crawford in 1961.