Royal Hawaiian Featherwork: Na Hulu Ali'i/ Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco in collaboration with the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Honolulu

Edited by Leah Caldeira, Christina Hellmich, Adrienne L. Kaeppler, Betty Lou Kam and Roger G. Rose with Maile Andrade, M. Kamalu du Preez, Samuel M. 'Ohukani'ohi'a Gon III, Noelle M. K. Y. Kahanu, Stacy L. Kamehiro, Marques Hanalei Marzan, and NoenoeK. Silva. --------Book accompanying exhibition. Painstakingly constructed by hand of plant fiber and precious feathers from endemic birds of Hawai‘i, feather cloaks and capes provided spiritual protection to Hawaiian chiefs for centuries while proclaiming their royal status. Few of the artworks known as nā hulu ali‘i, or royal feathers, survive today except in museums and private collections. Through photographs and scholarly essays, Royal Hawaiian Featherwork highlights approximately seventy-five rare examples of the finest featherwork capes and cloaks (‘ahu‘ula) extant, as well as royal staffs of feathers (kāhili), feather lei (lei hulu manu), helmets (mahiole), feathered god images (akua hulu manu), and related eighteenth- and nineteenth-century paintings and works on paper.

English