tapa, barktyg

"Hobu, tapa, hvitt tyg förfärdigat af basten av Morus papyrifera. Hvitt tyg bäres huvudsakligen af kvinnirna. Den gördel af basttyg, som bäres af båda könen kallas pareu; det tygstycke som kvinnorna bära öfver skuldrorna som ett slagsschal kallas ahutiapono."

I orig.kat.följande anteckning: (Ett st. taget till NordAmeroka 1883).
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Like in many islands of Polynesia, the making of barkcloth — known as tapa — in Tahiti was traditionally the domain of women. Tapa is a type of cloth crafted from the soft inner bark, or bast, of certain trees. Before the widespread use of European textiles, it was produced across the Pacific for both everyday and ceremonial purposes. In Tahiti, tapa is specifically called ahu. The paper mulberry tree (Broussonetia papyrifera) was the primary source, producing a naturally white cloth.
After being soaked and left to ferment, the strips of bast were beaten on a wooden anvil using a beater made from the hard wood of the toa tree (Casuarina equisetifolia). Larger sheets of tapa could be made by felting the edges together through additional beating or by pasting them with a glue prepared from the starch of arrowroot (Tacca pinnatifida).

In Western eyes, undecorated tapa was long regarded simply as plain cloth, with little aesthetic appeal and therefore little value. Yet these unadorned pieces could hold deep significance in sacred contexts. In Tahiti, people of high rank wore garments and accessories made from white tapa. Priests in particular used white tapa turbans, as the head was considered the seat of mana and thus the most sacred part of the body. Young women of chiefly families also wore long white tapa dresses. Rolls of plain white tapa used in ceremonies were carefully stored in the fare-ia-manaha, a sacred repository where priests’ garments were also kept, wrapped in tapa.
Carved divine figures could be wrapped in layers of undecorated tapa to contain and channel their power, protecting people from a force that might otherwise be overwhelming or dangerous. Plain white tapa was likewise associated with the realm of the dead, where it served as a funerary shroud.
These seemingly simple cloths were therefore sometimes far more than everyday objects. Their use shows how tapa functioned as a protective envelope and a tangible medium for communication with the sacred. This divine dimension is rooted in the myth of the goddess Hina. According to the story, Hina lived on the moon, where she beat bark to create cloth for the gods. When a branch accidentally fell to earth, it gave rise to the first earthly tapa tree. Tapa was thus understood as a fabric of celestial origin, linked to lunar purity and serving as a bridge between humans and the divine. (Héloise Dazard 2025).

Provenance:

Donated in 1832 by Anders Andersson Ahrengren (1770/71–1841), recorded at the time as “Kongl. Sekreterare”.

Born in Örebro, Ahrengren moved to the capital around the age of twenty and found work as a clerk in the state lottery and briefly in the customs service. Over the following decades, he became one of Stockholm’s most prominent gambling-house owners.
Ahrengren first ran a gaming house on Stora Nygatan, later moving to a more lavish property on Norra Smedjegatan where gambling and brothel activities were combined. The establishment attracted many upper-class visitors and was filled with luxurious furnishings, artworks, and a range of exotic objects. He was himself an active collector; he purchased a skull then believed to be that of René Descartes at an auction of Professor Sparrman’s estate.
His success began to falter in the 1820s, partly due to his own gambling losses. In 1830, he was forced to sell his Stockholm house, and in 1834, he became the focus of a widely reported scandal involving allegations of mistreating servants during a cholera outbreak at his estate in Qvisberg (Vadstena). Although he was acquitted in 1835, the episode caused lasting harm to his reputation.

There is no evidence that Ahrengren ever travelled beyond Northern Europe or had direct contact with the Pacific. The tapa he donated was therefore likely not personally collected. It is more likely that he acquired it through Stockholm’s elite social circles—possibly bought, received as a gift, or taken as payment for debts from the upper-class clientele of his establishments.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences formally recorded Ahrengren’s donation on 13 February 1833. In its protocol, the tapa is listed as “Ett stycke Barktyg från Otaheiti”, together with several zoological specimens he donated at the same time, including antlers from reindeer, elk, fallow deer, kudu, and a rhinoceros horn.
Ahrengren’s gift to the Academy may have been an attempt to associate himself with scientific respectability at a time when his social standing was under strain.

Neither the archives of the Etnografiska museet nor those of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences contain documents that clarify the circumstances of the donation, Ahrengren’s motivations, or the provenance of the tapa. (Héloise Dazard 2025).