To the main content To the footer

Textiles

The textile collection’s roughly 6,000 works span the 5th to the 21st centuries and come from around the globe, with just over 200 works representing Hawaiʻi. The majority of textiles date to the 19th and 20th centuries and are largely from Asia. The primarily ethnographic works include costume pieces, textile fragments, furnishings, jewelry and personal accessories; lace, fiber art, ceremonial and ritual objects; and textile tools and equipment. Highlights include a Hawaiian quilt by Mary Sophia Rice from 1886; a 19th-century Hawaiian ‘ahu‘ula (feather cape); a silk dragon robe from late 19th- to early 20th-century China, and a rich collection of Japanese kimonos. In 2023, thirteen works of aloha wear dating from the mid-1930s to the present were donated to the Honolulu Museum of Art. 

Highlights from the collection 

Woman’s Kimono with Fans, Autumn Flowers, and Dragonflies
Japan, c. 1912–1950 . Silk, crepe weave, double ikat (stencil printed warp and hand tie-dyed weft). Purchase, 1996 (8457.1)
ʻAhuʻula (feather cape)
Hawai‘i, late 18th–early 19th century. ʻIʻiwi and ʻoʻo feathers tied to a netting of olona bark. Gift of Mrs. John Dominis Holt, 1995 (7927.1)
Asafo Flag, No. 1 Company, Mpatoakwa
Keku Missa (Ghanaian). c. 1940. Cotton and rayon, embroidery, appliqué. Gift of Mrs. Thomas Davis, 1989 (5883.1)
Chilkat Blanket
Mary Ebbetts Hunt (Tlingit, Vancouver Island, 1823–1919). Late 19th century. Wool, twill tapestry twining with warp fringe at bottom and applied fringe at sides. Purchase, 1935 (4183)
Nā Kalaunu Me Nā Kahili (Crowns and Kahili) 
Mary Sophia Rice (1816–1911). 1886. Hawaiian quilt of cotton, plain weave, appliqued and contour quilted. Gift of Mrs. Thomas D. King, Jr., 1973 (4182.1)
Kapa Kilohana (bark cloth top sheet)
Hawai‘i, 1850s or earlier. Beaten inner bark of wauke (paper mulberry or Broussonetia papyrifera), with ʻalaea (ocherous earth pigment), possibly palaʻā (Odontosoria chenensis or lace fern), nānahu (charcoal) or kukui (Aleurites moluccana) lamp oil residue stamped designs. Gift of Anna Rice Cooke, 1934 (3957)
Lei Niho Palaoa (ivory tooth pendant)
Hawaiʻi, early 19th century. Braided human hair, carved whale tooth, fiber cord. Gift of Elizabeth Berry and Martha Berry, 1934 (3955) 
Chasuble (partial, back)
Attributed Spain, late 15th century. Silk with linen orphrey; silk, gilt and silver yarns, voided velvet weave; appliqued, embroidered. Gift of Anna Rice Cooke, 1930 (2929)
Pāpale (hat)
Frank H. Masagatani (American, 1934-2018). Late 20th century . Lauhala (pandanus leaf), plaited. Gift of Frank Masagatani, 2019 (2019-21-02)
Boardshorts
H. Miura Store (American, 1912-2005). 1960s. Cotton, plain weave, printed. Purchase (2019-19-01)
Steampunk Outfit
h.Naoto (Japanese, founded 2000). 2014. Ensemble of jumper skirt, fishtail skirt, blouse, holster vest, beret, goggles, and necklace. Purchase, 2016 (2016-24-036-044)
Hawaiiana (#11)
Jean Williams (American, 1916-2010).1976. Weaving. Gift of The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, 2011, and gift of The Honolulu Advertiser Collection at Persis Corporation (TCM.1983.5.430)
Ceremonial Cloth
Java, Indonesia, late 19th century. Cotton, batik tulis. Gift of The Christensen Fund, 2001 (9590.1)
Dragon Robe
China, late 19th–early 20th century .Silk, gilt paper-wrapped thread, brass, warp-faced satin weave, twill weave, discontinuous supplementary weft weave, tapestry weave, plain weave. Gift of Eileen M. Soong, 2001 (11793.1) 
Holokū
Alfred Shaheen (American, 1922–2008). 1960s. Cotton, metal buttons. Gift of Linda Arthur Bradley, 2023 (2023-04-06)