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Ancestor figure
Nias
19th century
Object Place: Nias, Indonesia
Dimensions
27.75 in. h x 6.5 in. w x 5 in. d
Credit Line
Bequest of William E. Teel
Accession Number2014.206
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAfrica and Oceania
ClassificationsSculpture
ProvenanceBetween about 1883 and 1886, probably acquired at central Nias, Indonesia, by the Rhenish Mission Society (Rheinisch Missions Gesellschaft) and taken to Germany for the museum of the Rhenish Mission, Barmen (present-day Wuppertal) [see note 1]; about 1925/1926, given to museum director Rudolf Andersch (b. 1901 - d. 1978) in lieu of payment; about 1978/1979, sold by Andersch's widow to Ingo Donath (dealer), Hamburg [see note 2]; sold by Donath through Loed van Bussel (dealer), Amsterdam. October 11, 1990, sold by Steven Alpert, Pacific-American Corp., Dallas, to William and Bertha Teel, Marblehead, MA; 2014, bequest of William Teel to the MFA. (Accession Date: February 26, 2014)
NOTES:
[1] The figure is inscribed RMG for Rheinische Missions Gesellschaft.The present-day museum and archive of the Vereinten Evangelischen Mission (correspondence from curator Christoph Schwab, February 27, 2014) confirmed that this inscription was probably used for shipping purposes and that the provenance information, which is taken from Mr. Teel's notes, was likely correct.
[2] According to Mr. Teel's notes. Rudolf Andersch worked at the museum in 1925/1926, and served as director from 1952 until 1973.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
It is not known precisely when or how this figure was taken from Nias. Wooden figures like this were important to Indigenous worship practices. They were found in homes, on altars, and on the fronts of dwellings, serving either a protective function or as repositories for ancestral spirits. Christian missionaries--and the Rhenish Missionary Society in particular, which had been on Nias since 1865--viewed such figures as superstitious and idolatrous, and destroyed many of them. By the early 20th century, however, Europeans valued the artistry of the figures. Missionaries exported them for collectors, and many were placed in the Rhenish Missionary Society's museum. See Mai Lin Tjoa-Bonatz, "Idols and Art: Missionary Attitudes toward Indigenous Worship and the Material Culture on Nias, Indonesia, 1904-1920," in Casting Faiths: Imperialism and the Transformation of Religion in East and Southeast Asia, ed. Thomas David DuBois (London, 2009), pp. 105-128, esp. 111-119.
NOTES:
[1] The figure is inscribed RMG for Rheinische Missions Gesellschaft.The present-day museum and archive of the Vereinten Evangelischen Mission (correspondence from curator Christoph Schwab, February 27, 2014) confirmed that this inscription was probably used for shipping purposes and that the provenance information, which is taken from Mr. Teel's notes, was likely correct.
[2] According to Mr. Teel's notes. Rudolf Andersch worked at the museum in 1925/1926, and served as director from 1952 until 1973.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
It is not known precisely when or how this figure was taken from Nias. Wooden figures like this were important to Indigenous worship practices. They were found in homes, on altars, and on the fronts of dwellings, serving either a protective function or as repositories for ancestral spirits. Christian missionaries--and the Rhenish Missionary Society in particular, which had been on Nias since 1865--viewed such figures as superstitious and idolatrous, and destroyed many of them. By the early 20th century, however, Europeans valued the artistry of the figures. Missionaries exported them for collectors, and many were placed in the Rhenish Missionary Society's museum. See Mai Lin Tjoa-Bonatz, "Idols and Art: Missionary Attitudes toward Indigenous Worship and the Material Culture on Nias, Indonesia, 1904-1920," in Casting Faiths: Imperialism and the Transformation of Religion in East and Southeast Asia, ed. Thomas David DuBois (London, 2009), pp. 105-128, esp. 111-119.