Ke Kahi O Ka’iulani, 1920s
Hawaiian quilts are currently being considered through a lens which looks more fully at the Hawaiians’ existing textile traditions: their structure, design, and cultural meanings. In this context, a richer history of the distinct Hawaiian appliqué quilt is revealed, and indigenous Hawaiian quilters given more agency in developing their approach to quilting. Hawaiians adapted appliqué quilting to suit their own aesthetics which were influenced by their tradition of layered beaten barkcloth or “kapa,” which had decorated top layers similar to quilts. The word kapa became the Hawaiian word for quilt, and other words for barkcloth’s layers and surfaces were applied to quilts as well.
This quilt’s pattern is Ke Kahi O Ka‘iulani, or “Comb of Kaiulani,” and honors Princess Ka’iulani, the last monarch of Hawaii, overthrown by the United States in 1893 (the islands were forcibly annexed to the United States in 1898). The design incorporates tortoiseshell combs apparently associated with Princess Ka’iulani and “a suggestion of the Hawaiian royal crown,” both motifs being greatly abstracted and combined with foliate designs. The nation’s loss of independence, and the young Princess’s death in 1899, would have occurred within the living memory of many living in the 1920s, possibly including this quilt’s maker. The existence of many monarchy-related quilt design titles, and the continued popularity of quilt designs featuring the Hawaiian flag, suggest that these quilts expressed Hawaiian identity and political statements about the nation’s assimilation into the United States.
DAR Museum 2023.6