Object 10

Tongan ngatu

Hunterian Museum Collection, GLAHM E.417/8

Art Historical Description

One of the more interesting art-historical discoveries of the research project leading to this web resource, this fine sample of Tongan ngatu tahina is one of a small number of Hunterian objects which has a sibling-sample in the University of Göttingen’s collection (Oz.599); part of a set of objects which was given to that University by Johann Reinhold and Georg Forster, the father-and-son naturalists on James Cook’s second voyage of Pacific exploration. Although it has been suspected (with only circumstantial evidence) for some years, we can now say with certainty that William Hunter purchased a collection of Pacific art from the Forsters during the time all three men were in London together (between 1775 and 1780). This ngatu is therefore among the earliest set of art works collected in Tonga (during either of the second voyage’s two visits to Tonga, in 1773 and 1774).

Stylistically, it was produced with the typical Tongan composition method: Sheets of bast are pasted together at their edges into a supple, double-layered cloth, and rubbed over a set of intricately patterned kupesi rubbing tablets with koka juice. Taro paste seems to have been used here for the composition glue, as it has yellowed over the last 250 years. The kupesi patterns used here reward closer study, and include a range of motifs dominated by the ‘herringbone’ pattern ve‘etuli in a number of complex orientational chequers, the ‘vane-swastika’ motif manulua, and other aesthetic arrangements. The absence of hand-overpainting is also particularly notable, and seems to be a widespread feature of 18th-century ngatu tahina.

Images

The Hunterian GLAHM E.417/8. Colour photograph of a fine sample of Tongan ngatu tahina is one of a small number of Hunterian objects which can be matched with a sample in the University of Göttingen’s collection (Oz.599). Stylistically, it was produced with the typical Tongan composition method: sheets of bast are pasted together at their edges into a double-layered cloth, and rubbed over a set of intricately patterned kupesi rubbing tablets with koka juice. (copyright The Hunterian, University of Glasgow; photograph supplied by The Photographic Unit, The University of Glasgow)
The Hunterian GLAHM E.417/8. Sample of Tongan ngatu tahina. Sheets of bast are pasted together at their edges into a double-layered cloth, and rubbed over a set of intricately patterned kupesi rubbing tablets with koka juice. (© The Hunterian, University of Glasgow; photograph supplied by The Photographic Unit, The University of Glasgow)

The Hunterian GLAHM E.417/8. Colour photograph of the everse of the cloth showing how the koka juice decoration has penetrated the surface (copyright The Hunterian, University of Glasgow; photograph supplied by The Photographic Unit, The University of Glasgow)
The Hunterian GLAHM E.417/8. Reverse of the cloth showing how the koka juice decoration has penetrated the surface (© The Hunterian, University of Glasgow; photograph supplied by The Photographic Unit, The University of Glasgow)

Details

Type

sample

Date

1773-1774

Decorated

yes

Dimensions

360cm (length) x 220cm (width) x 0.25-0.4mm (thickness)

Connections

Place

Tonga

People

Johann Reinhold Forster; William Hunter

Institution

First Hunterian Museum; Second Hunterian Museum

Manufacture

Associated Materials

Broussonetia papyrifera; Bischofia javanica; Colocasia esculenta

Associated Techniques

bark removal; pre-soaking; wet shell cortex stripping; short bast soak; initial beating – wooden anvil and square beater; pre-fusing; spreading and homogenisation; flat-faced beater smoothing; composition pasting at sheet edges; rubbed decoration; post-completion conditioning

Associated Fabric Types

ngatu tāhina

Version

Entry created on 28 August 2020