Tapa headdress, lepau
Santa Cruz Islands, East Solomon Islands
Paper mulberry tree inner bark, natural dye
Late 19th to early 20th century
67.5 by 18 inches (171.4 by 45.7 cm)
Ex private collection, Northern CA; ex Ashkenazi, Paris

Worn by important men during ceremonies, this headdress is made from the inner bark of the paper mulberry tree, and was worn wrapped around the head several times to form a cylinder, as seen in the photograph below. A grid of nine by five rectangles is filled with a variety of hand-drawn hatched geometric designs, separated by intersecting lines. In very good condition.

cf. Neich, R and Mick Pendergast, Traditional Tapa Textiles of the Pacific, Thames and Hudson, NY, 1998, photograph p. 125.
#2526

$7500