CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Piece of Unfinished Sailing Mat
vor 1900
About the object
The leaves of the Pandanus tree (pandanus tectorius) constituted one of the most important raw materials on the Marshall Islands and were used, for example, to make dress mats, mats for sleeping, sails and the roofing. This artefact is a piece of an unfinished sailing mat that Antonie Brandeis shipped back for illustrative purposes. Many of the artefacts contained in her first shipment in April 1900 have a connection to traditional handcraft techniques, such as the woven mats. Mats and sails were composed of strips of woven pandanus leaves. Antonie Brandeis also photographically documented this handcraft, which was generally undertaken by women.
