Bodmer_Publication

# 110 Kissensattel,
Missouri-Gebiet
Padded saddle,
Missouri area
The large number of buffalo robes in the Berlin Wied collection suggests that
the Prince did not dispose of them for financial reasons, but simply because he
needed the space for his ever-growing natural historical collection, which consisted
of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. At the time of his death,
Prince Maximilian owned a collection of something around 2,000 specimens.
Further interesting objects in the Berlin Wied collection include a painted
Lakota leather coat and a woman’s dress, a so-called parfleche (rawhide bag) from
the Cheyenne, a padded saddle, a pipe decorated with eagle feathers, bows and
quivers, a pair of snowshoes, a knee band, a drum, and two ceremonial catlinite
clubs. In addition it contains a few souvenirs, which the Prince collected on his
visit to the Niagara Falls on the return journey: a pair of Iroquois moccasins and
a Tuscarora club. The two little Cherokee baskets and the clay pot were probably
collected by Karl Bodmer when he traveled to New Orleans from January to February
1833. Maximilian’s aquatint atlas includes two tableaux that show objects
from the Berlin collection: a Mandan snowshoe on Tableau 21 and the Cheyenne
parfleche on Tableau 48.
Of special interest are the objects that can be ascribed to individuals that Karl
Bodmer actually portrayed: Vignette XXIV shows the young Mandan man by the
name of Mandeh-Pahchu carrying a wooden flute. The flute, which is now in the
Berlin collection, was purchased by Prince Maximilian in exchange for a European
whistle. A buffalo robe showing a bison bull at the centre belonged to the Mandan
chief Mato-Tope who held this piece in high esteem in memory of his brother, who
was slain by the enemy. A further object of special significance is the painted buffalo
robe that belonged to Pehriska-Ruhpa – Bodmer’s “Dog dancer” – on which his
deeds in battle are depicted. The Prince’s collection also comprises the seal s kin suit
of a Labrador Inuit including the appropriate boots, but it is not known whether
Maximilian purchased these items on his North America journey or elsewhere.
Four of the most superb, painted buffalo robes were reported missing in 1945.
Today we know that they were carried off to Leningrad by the Red Army at the end
of the Second World War, together with 50,000 other objects from the former
Museum für Völkerkunde (Museum of Ethnology), allegedly to “save” them from
the hands of the enemy. In 1978 the Soviet Union returned the pieces to the care of
the German Democratic Republic after which they were stored at the Ethnological
Museum in Leipzig until German reunification. In 1992 they were restored to the
Berlin museum so that today one can say that the collection that Prince Maximilian
sold to the Royal Art Chamber in 1844 is just about complete again.
The special value of this collection lies in the comparatively good documentation
where age and provenance of the items are concerned. Of some of the pieces
we even have the names of the original owners who were portrayed by Karl Bodmer.
The combination of accurate description in Prince Maximilian’s journal, comprehensive
visual documentation and well-preserved collection is a stroke of good
fortune for early North American ethnology.
A full listing of the Berlin Wied collection can be found in the article by Bolz
(1995), a synopsis is included in the catalogue of Bolz and Sanner (1999: 73 – 79).
# 260 Mokassin, Lakota
Single moccasin,
Lakota
90