IDNO

P.99152.MUS

Description

Documentary photograph of the decorative edges of a mat from Samoa, now in the care of the MAA, reference 1951.775, described as:
"A mat made from finely woven palm (or grass). A border eight inches wide is in geometric patterns woven in brown and black dyed strands interwoven with the natural colour."
An old label notes "King Matafa [Mata'afa] of Samoa and his Queen sat on this mat to receive Dr Alex Hill (late Master of Downing) and his wife and son and daughter, at a kava drinking in 1895 when they visited the islands. After the ceremony, King Matafa rose and presented the mat to Dr Hill. King Matafa was the king of Samoa about the turn of the century." [Description from record 1951.775, JD 30/09/2021]

Place

Oceania Polynesia; Oceania Micronesia; Europe British Isles; Samoa; ?Marshall Islands; United Kingdom; England; Cambridge; Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Mata'afa, Tupu O Samoa (King of Samoa); Dr Alex Hill (late Master of Downing); Dr Alex Hill

Photographer

Museum Photographer

Collector / Expedition

Mata'afa (Tupu O Samoa) [Object owner]; Hill, Alex (Dr) [Object collector]; Hill, Elsie [Object donor]

Date

1943

Collection Name

Museum Objects and Galleries

Source

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.99122 to P.99152 were formerly kept in paper archive envelope OA1/2/6; Box 79. The prints have now been transferred to the photo archive.

Place: Mat probably from the Marshall Islands. Information provided by Faustina Rehuher, Belau National Museum for the Republic of Palau. [JD 9/8/2007]

Place: The Place field was previously recorded as being “Oceania Micronesia; ?Marshall Islands”, but matching it to the object 1951.775 shows that it was donated from Mata'afa, Tupu O Samoa (King of Samoa), but Mata'afa was exiled to the Marshall Islands in circa 1886-1889 and may have collected the mat during that time. The Place field has been amended to show both counties. [JD 30/09/2021]

Place: The Samoan origin is uncertain. A woven coat with a very similar design in the Museum of Natural History at Neuchatel, has been identified as coming from the Marshall Islands. This was verified by .Dr. Marion Melk-Koch, Kustodin Ozeanien/Australien Staatliche Ethnographische Sammlungen Sachsen , Museum of Volkerkunde zu Leipzig (Anita Herle August 2006). [Information from record 1951.775, JD 30/09/2021]

Named Person: "It is likely that the Mata'afa referred to is actually Susuga Malietoa Laupepa (1841- 1898), the ruler (Malietoa- a chiefly title) who was crowned King of Samoa by the German Empire, American, and British consuls in March 1881. They subsequently recognised Tuiātua Tupua Tamasese Titimaea instead and declared him King of Samoa in 1886.
Laupepa was exiled to Marshall Islands in c.1886 but returned in 1889 and ruled until his death in 1898 as Malietoa titleholder as part of the Berlin Treaty and declared King by Germany, Britain, and the United States.
Mata'afa Iosefo (1832 -1912) was another Paramount Chief of Samoa and a rival for the Kingship. He was also exiled to Jaluit, Marshall Islands in 1889 after the War of 1893 had been won by Malietoa Laupepa. [Information from record 1951.775, JD 30/09/2021]

Named Person: It is unlikely that the woman referred to as Mata'afa's queen was in fact his wife, as she died earlier, and he was known as the Faifeau [priest] because as a devout Catholic he remained a widower after her death. The woman is likely to have been his daughter, Kalala.
From notes by I'u Tuagalu, Auckland University of Technology during his visit to MAA, 26/11/2018. [Information from record 1951.775, JD 30/09/2021]

Named Person: Hill took his family on a world tour returning by 1897. cf Hill, A (1897) A Run Round the Empire. Being the Log of Two Young People who Circumnavigated the Globe: written out by their father Alex Hill M.A., M.D., London: Swan Sonnenschein. [Information from record 1951.775, JD 30/09/2021]

This print has been catalogued with the support of the Getty Grant Fund. [Alex Nadin 19/08/2003]