1886.21.29

Collection type

Object

Description

Barkcloth: white, finely ribbed.

Long description

Large barkcloth, white in colour but showing traces of a red/brown dye. [JU 12/02/2013]

Geographical reference

French Polynesia (Overseas Collectivity of France)

Oceania > Polynesia > French Polynesia (Overseas Collectivity of France)

Society Islands Tahiti

Person

Field collector Joseph Banks

PRM source Christ Church, University of Oxford

Date / Period

Date made: Before 09/08/1769

Date collected

Between 13 April and 9 August 1769

Acquisition information

Transferred: 1886, uncertain Loaned: 1886, uncertain

Materials and processes

Material Bark Cloth Textile Plant, Process Beaten

Dimensions

Width 3350 mm, Length 3850 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1886.21.29

Research and responses

Lynne Williamson previously suggested that this item was to be identified with a 'Dr Pope' item that was found unentered in 1945. This item (1945.11.130) was accessioned as '?MARQUESAS IS. - Piece of fine bark-strip matting with bark fringe. Old ticket says "N.A.", but it's too fine for cedar-bark work.' This is quite clearly a different item and it is not clear why the misidentification was made. [JC 15 12 2003]

Given that (1) there seems to be no evidence as to how or why Dr Pope acquired material from the Pacific, and (2) the recent discovery that Joseph Banks gave a collection of Pacific material from Captain Cook's first voyage (1768-1771) to Christ Church before January 1773, I am tentatively ascribing all the Pacific material formerly ascribed to Dr Pope, to the Banks' collection. I assume that the authorities at Christ Church found this material in the 1880s and that, having no knowledge of the Banks collection, ascribed it to the North American collection of Dr Pope that had recently been transferred from Christ Church to the PRM. Assuming, therefore, that this item is from the Banks collection, it cannot be from Hawaii and is very likely to be from the Society Islands (Tahiti). [JC 16 12 2003]

Samples were taken from the surface of the barkcloth using distilled water on cotton wool, and sent to Andrew Charlton at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (FERA) to test for pesticide residues. [JU 24/09/2012]

The surface of the mat was analysed by Kelly Domoney, Research Fellow at Cranfield Forensic Institute, using an Oxford Instruments XMET-500 handheld XRF. [JU 08/08/2013]

Associated publications

For an account of the collection of which this is a part, see 'An Interim Report on a Previously Unknown Collection from Cook's First Voyage: The Christ Church Collection at the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford', by Jeremy Coote, in Journal of Museum Ethnography, no. 16 (2004), pp. 111-21. This item is listed on page 117. (Copy of article in RDF: Biographies: Banks.) [JC 8 4 2004] Listed on page 22 and illustrated in colour (with 1886.21.16, 1886.21.18, and 1886.21.29) as Figure 4 on page 9 of Curiosities from the Endeavour: A Forgotten Collection—Pacific Artefacts Given by Joseph Banks to Christ Church, Oxford after the First Voyage, by Jeremy Coote (Whitby: Captain Cook Memorial Museum, 2004). (Copies of exhibition leaflets, poster, catalogue, etc. in RDF: Biographies: Banks.) [JC 14 4 2004; JC 25 6 2004] Illustrated in colour (with 1886.21.16, 1886.21.18, and 1886.21.29; details only) as number 4 in the exhibition leaflet (Curiosities from the Endeavour: A Forgotten Collection—Pacific Artefacts Given by Joseph Banks to Christ Church, Oxford after the First Voyage, by Jeremy Coote and Sophie Forgan (Whitby: Captain Cook Memorial Museum, 2004). [JC 25 9 2009] See also 'Forgotten Treasures from Cook's First Voyage', by Jeremy Coote and Sophie Forgan, in Cook's Log, Vol. XXVII, no. 2 (April 2004), pp. 4-6. (Copy in RDF: Biographies: Banks.) [JC 25 6 2004] See also 'Curiosities from the Endeavour: A Forgotten Collection', by Jeremy Coote, The Friends of the Pitt Rivers Museum Newsletter, no. 49 (July 2004), pp. 6-7. (Copy in RDF: Biographies: Banks.) [JC 1 9 2004] See also 'Uncovered: "Lost" Treasures from the South Seas', by Julie Webb, in Limited Edition [supplement to the Oxford Times], number 215 (December 2004), pp. 31-33. This piece is illustrated in colour (with 1886.21.16, 1886.21.17, and 1886.21.18) on page 33. (Copy in RDF: Biographies: Banks.) [JC 15 12 2004] For an account of the history of the collection of which this is part, see 'The Cook-Voyage Collections at Oxford, 1772–1775', by Jeremy Coote, in Jeremy Coote (ed.), Cook-Voyage Collections of 'Artificial Curiosities' in Britain and Ireland, 1771–2015 (MEG Occasional Paper No. 5), Oxford: Museum Ethnographers Group (2015), pp. 74–122. (Copy in RDF: Researchers: Jeremy Coote (Cook-Voyage Collections).) [JC 9 6 2016]

Search terms: Barkcloth