Great Tapa Of New Guinea 19th Century

Features

Artwork title:  Grande Tapa della Nuova Guinea

Age:  20th Century / 1901 - 2000

Subject:  Decorated fabric

Artistic technique:  Decor on fabric

Description : Grande Tapa della Nuova Guinea

Woven from bark and decorated. Splendid example of art-craftsmanship, which refers to one of the most ancient methods to obtain clothes without resorting to weaving or weaving, but using the internal bark of certain species of trees. It’s a method that’s been practiced in Central Africa, in Southeast Asia, in Japan, in North America and from Mesoamerica to the Andes, to the Amazon and the Great Chaco regions. The term Tapa denotes in particular all the bark tissues of Oceania, but in reality it is a word native to Fiji. Depending on the area where these bark tissues are produced, different tree species are used: while in Africa the fig tree is used, in Indonesia and in the Pacific islands the bark most used is that of the paper mulberry tree, with which the highest quality fabrics are produced, which remain white and can be decorated in different ways. If once the bark fabric was worn daily, even simply wrapped around the body, over the centuries it has been replaced by cotton, but still today it is preferred to western fabrics for ritual and ceremonial occasions; above all, these fabrics continue to be important goods of exchange, gifts of value in occasions of births, birthdays, marriages (with exchanges between the relatives of the groom and those of the bride), funerals and ceremonial presentations to the royal family. Added to this is the production generated by the thriving tourist market of this fabric. The tapa presented here is decorated with repeated geometric motifs, which evoke the huts and the village road. The upper edge is not straight, but shaped with large triangular fringes. It is placed on a panel covered with a plexiglass case.

Product Condition:
Fair condition. Wear consistent with age and use. Any damage or loss is displayed as completely as possible in the pictures. Product with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lawful Origin.

Frame Size (cm):
Height: 166
Width: 166
Depth: 5,5

Artwork dimensions (cm):
Height: 135
Width: 140