Producer unknown to us
Sculpture
Africa, Tanzania
19th century
Clay, modeled
Paul Kollmann (officer of the Imperial Colonial Troops) appropriated the figure during his work in the former colony ”German East Africa”
Donation to the museum by Kollmann in 1897
MAf 6547
The figure was donated to the museum in 1897 by Saxon Major General Paul Kollmann (1865–1923). Kollmann was a member of the Schutztruppe (protection force) in the former colony of “German East Africa.” Kollmann's biography is characterized by the overlapping of military activities, assignments for museum directorships, and collaborations with colonial scientists, which was the rule rather than the exception among the so-called collectors of the colonial era.
As in other regions, German colonial rule in East Africa was characterized by targeted violence, destruction, pillaging, and the suppression of the resisting population.
Only little information is available with regard to size, material, gender attribution of the (female) figure. There is only a rough geographic assignment to the Sukuma region (in present-day Tanzania), suggesting that Kollmann was less interested in the scientific study of cultural assets than in their strategic removal.
Jan König