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75 FIGS. 6a and b: Cape, ‘ahu ‘ula. Hawaiian Islands. Pre 1861. Yellow and black ‘o‘o (Moho nobilis) feathers, red ‘i‘iwi (Vestiaria coccinea) feathers, olona (Touchardia latifolia) fi ber. 42.5 x 91.4 cm. Provenance: Kamehameha IV; 1861 Lady Franklin, gift of Kamehameha IV; 1875 G. B. Austin Leroy by descent; 1909 purchased by Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum. Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Ethnology Collection, 09670/1909.007. “thus entangling” prayers, producing a garment that offered spiritual protection to the wearer in addition to prestige with its valuable and fi ne materials.8 When worn, featherwork also acquired the mana (supernatural or divine power) of the wearer.9 The size, shape, and drape of the netting were designed to accentuate the play of light on cloaks and capes when worn, highlighting the feathers’ beauty and thus the wearer’s beauty as well.10 In his analysis of the symbolism and aesthetics of Hawaiian featherwork, scholar John Charlot has indicated that Hawaiian literature emphasizes the beauty of the cloaks rather than their protective function. He states that “A cloak is perceived as keia mea ulaula maikai—this good, glowing red thing,”11 and he references a famous chant “in which the chief is described as an iridescent vision.”12 Hawaiian ethnographer, linguist, and scholar Mary Kawena Pukui recorded that “warrior chiefs in feather capes and helmets … look like little rainbows—rain ‘heated’ by the sun—‘Ka wela o ka ua.’”13 For helmets, the feathered netting was fastened onto a rigid crescent-shaped form of twined ‘ie‘ie aerial roots that allowed the feathers to maintain a specifi c shape, orientation, and arrangement. Alternatively, feather-covered cords were secured in parallel lines on the surface of the ‘ie‘ie form.14 A fi eld dominated by yellow feathers is found at the top of helmet crests on the fi ve included in the exhibition and on the larger extant corpus of more than thirty helmets incorporating yellow, black, and red feathers, though the meaning of this signifi cant design convention was not recorded. However, the top of the head was one of the most sacred parts of a chief’s body and the helmet accentuated this area and provided physical and spiritual protection during battle.15 Motifs and designs on cloaks and capes include triangles, crescents, circles, and quadrilaterals, which were created by abutting fi elds of feathers in different colors. Although two ‘ahu ‘ula might contain the same design, the composition of each garment is unique. Roger Rose, author of Hawai‘i: The Royal Isles, has indicated that most were made for specifi c individuals, and it is often assumed that each one became representative of its wearer.16 Kaeppler has proposed that “the designs and colors appear to be related to specifi c chiefl y lines and the foregrounding and backgrounding of the motifs changed over time.”17 Associations of particular cloaks and capes to individuals provide some possible connections between selected designs and chiefs, such as the Hawai‘i Island style associated with the Kamehameha dynasty featuring a red neckline set with red and yellow Royal Hawaiian Featherwork


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