Bodmer_Publication

Next to that, a bow case with quiver and arrows, (Acc. No. 36132) and a bow
(Acc. No. 36133) found its way into the collection of Hermann Seeger. We are very
happy that in 1992 this local private collector decided to return the items as a gift to
the Linden-Museum, although with only six of the originally documented nine
arrows (Acc. No. 36132 b – g). A woodcut of these objects is to be seen in Wied’s
travelwork. 10 Surprisingly enough the bow had never been deaccessioned. These examples
show how problematic it is to simply label missing objects as “war losses.”
Repeatedly we observe that pieces are “upgraded” by assigning them to famous
individuals. A case at hand is a note in the inventory book referring to a pair of
moccasins (Acc. No. 36086) which went to a private collector in 1972. The objects
are said to have belonged to the Mandan Sih-Chi-dä, whom Karl Bodmer portrayed
on Tableau 20. There is, however, no evidence for such an ascription.
Not only scientists used the Wied collection for their studies, but also “experts”
on Native Americans such as the German-American Frederick Weygold who as an
artist, collector and dealer maintained close relations with the major German
e thnographic museums; he worked on the Stuttgart collection in 1908 and helped
with the identification of objects. An actually amusing example refers to the interpretation
of a twisted wooden stick with an inserted tip of an elk antler, which
Schulze-Thulin attributed to the Gros Ventre in reference to the Prince’s diary. 11
The original entry in the inventory book under No. 35977 declares “Assiniboin” as
the provenance and describes the piece as a “club with the brow antler of a wapiti.”
Weygold identified the object as “digging stick of the Shoshone, Western Mountain
Region, used to dig up the edible camas root, growing wild in the Rocky Mountains.”
The note is written on a lose piece of paper, pasted above the original entry.
Who crossed out “Shoshone” as identification in the inventory book and wrote
“ ascribed to Assiniboin by P.W.” instead, is not known. Revealing is a drawing in
pencil by Karl Bodmer who had sketched the object, describing it as “Assiniboin”
after he had crossed out “Mönitarri” (Minnetaree) as identification. 12
Documentation of Objects on Karl Bodmer’s
Tableaux and Watercolor Paintings
According to the agreement with Prince Maximilian, Karl Bodmer paid much
attention to accuracy in his representation of ethnographic objects. Tableaux 21
and 48 were published in the travelwork under the title “American Indian Utensils
and Weapons.” They show numerous pieces that are now part of the collection at
the Linden-Museum Stuttgart.
Biography Painted on Skin
Mato-Tope’s painted buffalo robe (Acc. No. 36125) at the center of Tableau 21
dominates the image. It represents a mnemonic documentation of some of the
outstanding heroic deeds of this Mandan warrior chief, whose fame reached far
into the Upper Missouri region. In a watercolor painting Karl Bodmer reproduced
this robe very realistically, accentuating its artistic expression, 13 whereas in Tableau
21 the actual structure of the skin is given more emphasis. Only one of the
episodes that Mato-Tope painted as part of his warrior biography was described in
detail by Maximilian Prince. It refers to the dramatic life-and-death fight which
the Mandan had with a Cheyenne chief. Thanks to the travel notes and the sketches
by the American painter George Catlin, who lived among the Mandan around the
48