Barkcloth, ′ahu, from the Society Islands (probably Tahiti); part of the Forster collection (Forster 18; 1886.1.1256)

A three-layered piece of barkcloth. The two lower layers are a plain white cloth and the upper layer is a black cloth. The uppermost black cloth has been decorated using a black paint or resin with small dots reminiscent of a fish scale pattern. The black cloth appears to have been lightly pasted to the two layers of white cloth. A curved cut is located in the upper right corner of the object

• Museum database entry.