Te iriba

Te Iriba. Fan. This is a hand held iriba. It is a woven flat form. It's blade is shaped like a curved diamond shape with a cylindrical handle at its base. This iriba is composed of four material components: kakoko (the young, white central leaves of the coconut tree), kora (coconut sennit fibre), ira (human hair) and te ira (pandanus leaf). The structure is handwoven from kakoko. This is off-white in colour. A strand of te ira has been folded in half to cover the selvedge of the kakoko that makes up the handle of the iriba. A two-ply cord of dark brown ira and golden brown kora has been bound around the handle fixing the te ira and ends of the kakoko together. A loose end of the cord hangs freely near the end of the handle. This style of fan would be used for fanning fire. The hair twined cord adds significance to the iriba.

Other Name

Fan (English)

Place

Tarawa/Gilbert Islands/Kiribati

Accession Number

1939.104

Accession Date

1939

Other Id

24499.3 (ethnology)

Department

Pacific