 |
I. The collection and the collectors The Maluku Tenggara collection of the National Museum of Ethnology (RMV) is particularly rich in these religious statues. The majority of them arrived in Leiden at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. Apart from its aesthetic qualities the collection is of great ethnographical value. Many important objects were collected by Dutch administrative officers, two of whom - J.G.F. Riedel and M.C. Schadee - deserve closer attention. A third collector who must be mentioned is A.J. Gooszen. This Royal Dutch East-Indian Army officer's interest in ethnography resulted in thousands of objects from East Indonesia reaching the museum. Riedel From 1853 onwards J.G.F. Riedel worked in various parts of the Dutch East Indies. In 1880 he was appointed Resident of Ambon, a region which at the time included the islands of Maluku Tanggara, hundreds of kilometres to the south. The objects he collected came from both Western and Eastern Maluku Tenggara (the former Southwest and Southeast islands).[1] Various objects were described in his extensive work De sluik- en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua ('The lank- and fuzzy-haired races between Selebes and Papua'), published in 1886. This book brought him both a great deal of criticism and a doctorate (from the Academy in Leipzig in Germany). Many of the inaccuracies in the book are probably a result of the way in which the information was assembled. Riedel visited few of the islands himself, but relied on informants to bring the objects to his residence in Ambon.[2] Schadee Much less is known about M.C. Schadee. We do know that in 1902 he was serving as a government official (Controleur) in Tual in the Kai islands, a post which included responsibility for Tanimbar and Babar.[3] He appears to have ruled with a rod of iron. On various occasions he resorted to heavy-handed methods to enforce peace in a region plagued by wars.
Later in his career he served in Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). Schadee's Maluku Tenggara collection was collected during his official tours to both the former Southwest and Southeast islands. The series of luli statues he collected on the island of Lakor, part of the Leti group, is particularly important due to its relative rarity.[4] Gooszen Gooszen, a professional soldier, arrived in the Dutch East Indies in 1890. In 1907 he led the first exploration detachment to Southern New Guinea.
His later career also kept him in Eastern Indonesia. As Military Commander of Ambon and Ternate he had ethnographica collected on a large scale - out of both military and scientific interest. As a result of his efforts the museum received more than 6000 objects, including many weapons.[5] The majority of the objects from Maluku Tenggara were collected on the former Southeast islands.[6] The statue known as Werwat, collected by Gooszen on Kai Kecil, enjoys international renown.
Because of its intriguing design and an absence of reliable information the identity of this sculpture has become shrouded in a veil of mystery.[7] Unfortunately, almost all the Gooszen collection lacks proper documentation. In this survey we are able to highlight only a small portion of the material assembled by these three collectors, and only a fraction of the other Southeast Moluccan god and ancestor statues in the museum's possession. | | ||||||||||||
