Baessler-Archiv – Kulturen und Künste der Welt

Inhalt

Die Redaktion — 2026-01-14

Revisiting Rizal’s 1888 Gift to the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin

Maria Cristina Martinez-Juan — 2026-01-14

This essay revisits José Rizal’s 1888 donation of 21 ethnographic objects to the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin (EMB) through the lens of contemporary museum studies, drawing on collaborative research conducted in 2025 with curators and conservators from both the Philippines and Germany. Although long cited as evidence of Rizal’s engagement with European anthropology, the material, classificatory, and institutional dimensions of the donation have been largely overlooked. Combining object-based analysis, archival research, and sustained curatorial exchange, the study foregrounds the methodological and epistemological challenges of working with fragmentary collections. Rizal’s inconsistent labelling and use of generic regional descriptors are interpreted not as simple lapses, but as symptomatic of the entangled processes of colonial-era collecting, translation, and museological negotiation.
The essay argues for a recontextualization of the Rizal collection as a provisional, relational archive—one that reveals the limits of ethnographic authority and the potential of collaborative, dialogical approaches to museum research. It contributes to ongoing debates in museum studies around access, provenance, and the ethical responsibilities of institutions in addressing historical collections.

The Collector, Dealer and Researcher Wilhelm Bauer

Yannick Dreessen — 2026-01-14

Wilhelm Bauer was a German researcher, collector and dealer particularly of Indigenous material culture who made a living in Mexico between 1901 and 1912. His life and work were largely influenced by his connection to the Königliches Museum für Völkerkunde in Berlin and Eduard Seler, with whom he had a special relationship. While maintaining close ties with Berlin, he also contributed to archaeological, ethnographic and photographic collections of scholars and museums in Europe, the USA and Mexico. Based on archival research in the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin and beyond, this article presents new insights into Bauer’s biography and discusses his contacts with key figures in Americanist studies of his time. The article approaches Bauer as embedded in scholarly networks by working closely with the historical correspondence. It elaborates how Bauer earned a living in Mexico largely by establishing himself in a transnational network of scholarly collecting, to which he offered his services and even set up a business for antiquities, among other things. One central interest is the relationship with Eduard Seler, who defined his interconnected academic and economic ambitions. The article contributes to the understanding of the role of intermediaries in a global network of collectors and institutions at the beginning of the 20th century.

Tiwanaku Snake-Belt God and the Iconography of Liquids

Christiane Clados — 2026-01-14

A bone tube of the Tiwanaku culture in the South American collections of the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin is one of the rarest of its kind. This article analyzes its iconography and explores the relationship between the graphic message and the object’s original function. I argue that the depiction on the tube represents not only the commonly known character called the Sacrificer or Upturned-Nose Decapitator but also the Tiwanaku counterpart of the Moche Snake-belt God, who participates in such a wide range of activities that he appears to play a central role in a major epic story. Despite his role in themes connected to decapitation and primordial places, he is a character associated with the iconography of liquids. I will define the graphic repertory of liquids and raise the question how it fits with the fact that the bone tube originally contained fine-grained cinnabar.

Islamicate Art, Copy, Forgery?

Fiona K. Naeem — 2026-01-14

When does counterfeit art become inauthentic? Where is the line between forgery and copy? Can copies find a place in ethnological collections? Taking the case study of a Safavid Revival prayer niche (mih.rāb) and accompanying horizontal tiles (t.irāz) in the “Aspects of Islam” exhibition of the Ethnologisches Museum at Humboldt Forum, this article examines the abrupt shift in attitudes towards these objects once they were found to be much younger than previously thought. Placing the prayer niche within the greater context of Safavid Revivalism and Islamicate cultural production, this article challenges European perceptions of forgery, arguing that, for visitors to the exhibition, the young age of the prayer niche is largely irrelevant as it evokes an experiential connection to Islamicate history through its cultural meaning and religious function.

Balduin Möllhausens »Reliquien«

Peter Bolz — 2026-01-14

Balduin Möllhausen, born in 1825, is well known as a writer of more than 40 novels about the American West. Between 1849 and 1858 he made three trips to North America. During his first one (1849–52) he came into contact with various tribes in the Mississippi-Missouri region, foremost Otoe and Omaha. As a draftsman he made sketches and drawings which he later executed as watercolors. His second trip (1853–54) as a member of the U.S. government expedition under the command of lieutenant Whipple, in search of a railway route to the Pacific Ocean, took him into the American Southwest. The third one (1857–58) under Lieutenant Ives was meant to explore the navigation conditions of the Colorado river. Möllhausen took various ethnological objects back to Germany. These relics (Reliquien), as he called them, were hanging on the walls of his studio for the rest of his life. A few months before his death he donated them to the Museum für Völkerkunde in Berlin, together with his watercolors. In this article, his small collection of 25 ethnological artifacts is published entirely for the first time.

Madhipuram und Bimapalli: Siedlungen muslimischer Fischer an der Malabar-Küste (Südindien)

Jürgen Wasim Frembgen — 2026-01-14

The present ethnographic sketch portrays the lifeworld and material culture of two communities of Muslim fishermen living on the southern Malabar coast close to the city of Trivandrum. The villages of Madhipuram, which belongs to the small port town of Vizhinjam, and Bimapalli are inhabited by low caste Marakkan as well as Mappila Muslims. After outlining the setting through historical and ethnographic notes on both settlements, emphasis is given to the impressive mosques and Sufi shrines functioning as Islamic landmarks. The son of a famous early Muslim missionary of Kerala and a companion of the great Sufi saint Abdul Qadir Jilani are buried in Madhipuram whereas Bimapalli is noted for the female saint Bima Biwi supposed to have come from Arabia in the 8th century CE. The main section of this article describes different aspects of the lifeworld of fishermen, such as types of boats (with notes on the woodcarving of prows and related symbolism), methods of fishing, and everyday activities (food, popular pastimes, public life). Concluding remarks reflect upon the ongoing socio-economic change as well as environmental destruction observable in both places.

Titelei

Die Redaktion — 2026-01-14

Zwischen Präsentation und Mitgestaltung

Julie Nautré — 2026-01-14

From Declaration to Action

Anna Sara Dias — 2026-01-14

”Conservation in Dialogue“

Mira Dallige-Smith — 2026-01-14

Feliciano Lana – Die Geschichte der Weißen

Andrea Scholz — 2026-01-14

Manatunga – Künstlerische Interventionen von George Nuku

Dorothea Deterts — 2026-01-14

Schutzwesen – Die Superkräfte der Natur

Valerie von Stillfried — 2026-01-14

Besuch afghanischer Weberinnen

Melanie Krebs — 2026-01-14

»Treasures of Mongolian Historical and Cultural Heritage in Germany«

Henriette Lavaulx-Vrécourt — 2026-01-14

Publikationen von Mitarbeitenden des Ethnologischen Museums

Die Redaktion — 2026-01-14

Überblick

Die Redaktion — 2026-01-14

Projekte im »Kollaborativen Museum« (CoMuse) des Ethnologischen Museums und des Museums für Asiatische Kunst

Die Redaktion — 2026-01-14

Nachruf auf Kerstin Flemming von Toralf Gabsch

Toralf Gabsch — 2026-01-14

Nachruf auf Artur Simon von Albrecht Wiedmann

Albrecht Wiedmann — 2026-01-14

Institution im Wandel: Über kollaborative Praxis im Ethnologischen Museum und Museum für Asiatische Kunst

Die Redaktion — 2026-01-14

After the intense years of relocating and opening their permanent exhibitions at the Humboldt Forum, the Ethnologische Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst are now focusing even more than before on transcultural cooperations. Since the launch of the large-scale initiative ‘The Collaborative Museum’ (CoMuse, "Das Kollaborative Museum") in early 2023, this has been the emphasis of the programmatic work of the museums and the numerous projects that have been initiated. Both museums are increasingly developing multi-perspective and collaborative approaches to the research of the collections and are testing new formats of cooperation with the international museum- and scientific community as well as with representatives of societies of origin. CoMuse understands these collaborations not as a supplementary element, but as constitutive for a new ethical and epistemic orientation of museum work. In doing so, it also focuses on structural challenges – for example, in relation to methods, personnel structures and decision-making processes. The newly created positions within CoMuse, including restitution coordination, postcolonial provenance research, education and outreach, and CoMuse fellowship program coordination, reflect the efforts to anchor collaboration both methodologically and infrastructurally within the museums. The interview provides a framework for reflections in which employees of the Ethnologische Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst jointly discuss their experiences, expectations and the associated challenges of institutional change in the recent years and take a look to the future.

Autorinnen und Autoren/Authors

Die Redaktion — 2026-01-14