5 Exhibit in the Ethnographic Museum ‘De Volharding’ at Artis In the gallery to the far left is a display case with African objects, including the Wojo / Vili mask (see Fig. 84). c. 1890 000395000449 Amsterdam City Archives
Anema, J.C.W.H. and C. Cremer, F. Hanken, D.D. Veth, J.M. Westerouwen van Meeteren and others. The Fetishes were especially well represented. In the other half of the gallery, one finds a collection of objects brought together by the late Mr. J. M. Schuver from the region of the Upper Nile along with countless pieces of jewellery etc. from the Kaffers and a small collection from N. Africa’.7 A rare photograph shows one of the three halls where the Africa gallery can clearly be recognized. To the right is the collection of Schuver. To the left, in the first display case, the large Vili/Woyo mask of Anema can be seen, together with many Congolese power figures. This exhibition probably stood in the ‘De Volharding’ building until the physical transfer of the Artis collection to the Royal Tropical Institute in 1920 (see p. 20).
The New African Trade Association Without the presence of Dutch traders on the African coasts and hinterlands in the 19th century, the number of objects from this region in Dutch museums would never have become so large. In the Lower Congo region, for example, the collecting of objects was facilitated and stimulated by the New African Trade Association. This was probably due to the personal enthusiasm of its head agent, Anton Greshoff, and fuelled later by requests from Dutch institutions. The Association possessed many trading posts in the estuary region of the Congo River, the so-called Lower Congo region that runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Malebo Pool, on whose shores Kinshasa and Brazzaville are located. At the end of the 19th century, the trading posts
A FRI C A AT TH E TRO PENMU SEU M
KIT-Africa_HT.indd 19
19
12-08-11 10:56