Tongan
Bark Cloth (Ngatu)
Tongan, 1933-1966
Scroll
Tongan
Bark Cloth (Ngatu)
Tongan, 1933-1966
Physical Qualities
Bark, pigment, 177 3/16 x 74 13/16 in. (450 x 190 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Alan Wurtzburger
Object Number
1955.251.167
“Our history is written, not in books, but in our mats.” —Queen Sālote Tupou III (1900–1965)
Symbols from the Tongan Coat of Arms repeat across this ngatu (bark cloth) fragment, which was likely created to be gifted during a national celebration. The crown references the Tongan royal family, the last Indigenous monarchy in the Pacific. The three stars symbolize the nation’s three main groups of islands: Tongatapu, Ha’apai, and Vava’u.
Swords represent the royal dynasties: Tuki Tonga, Tu’i Ha’atakalaua, and Tu’i Kanokupolou. Although massive, this work is but a fragment, as the panel numbers indicate.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1955; Alan Wurtzburger
Wurtzburger Traveling
The Matter of Bark Cloth
Douglas F. Fraser & Paul S. Wingret, "The Wurtzburger Collection of Oceanic Art" , BMA 1956 pg. 37. cat no. 167
Veys, Fanny Wonu. Unwrapping Tongan Barkcloth: Encounters, Creativity and Female Agency. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017.
Brunt, Peter et al. Art in Oceania: A New History. Thames & Hudson. 2012
Küchler, Susanne & Graeme Were. 2010. “The Social World of Cloth in the Pacific Islands,” in Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, Vol. 7, 381-385.
Herda, Phyllis S. "The changing texture of textiles in Tonga." The Journal of the Polynesian Society 108, no. 2 (1999): 149-167.
Neich, Roger and Mick Predergrast. 1997. Pacific Tapa. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.
Teilhet-Fisk, Jehanne. 1991. “To Beat or Not to Beat, that is the Question: A Study on Acculturation and Change in an Art-Making Process and its Relation to Gender Structures,” Pacific Studies 14 (3): 41-68.
Weiner, Annette B. "Why cloth? Wealth, gender, and power in Oceania." Cloth and human experience (1989): 33-7 2
Brunt, Peter et al. Art in Oceania: A New History. Thames & Hudson. 2012
Küchler, Susanne & Graeme Were. 2010. “The Social World of Cloth in the Pacific Islands,” in Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, Vol. 7, 381-385.
Herda, Phyllis S. "The changing texture of textiles in Tonga." The Journal of the Polynesian Society 108, no. 2 (1999): 149-167.
Neich, Roger and Mick Predergrast. 1997. Pacific Tapa. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.
Teilhet-Fisk, Jehanne. 1991. “To Beat or Not to Beat, that is the Question: A Study on Acculturation and Change in an Art-Making Process and its Relation to Gender Structures,” Pacific Studies 14 (3): 41-68.
Weiner, Annette B. "Why cloth? Wealth, gender, and power in Oceania." Cloth and human experience (1989): 33-7 2
