Provenance research: Ainu Collection of the Museums of the City of Bamberg
Dr. Kristin Knebel
positionDirektorin der Museen der Stadt Bamberg
emailmuseum@stadt.bamberg.de
Arne Schönfeld
positionKurator der Museen der Stadt Bamberg
phone0951 87 1148
emailarne.schoenfeld@stadt.bamberg.de
The museums of the city of Bamberg hold a large collection of objects from a wide variety of contexts, which have so far only been examined or processed to a very limited extent. The research project Provenance Research: Ainu Collection of the Museums of the City of Bamberg deals with the analysis of two groups of objects in the museums' Asian collection: 1. objects from the Japanese ethnic group of the Ainu and 2. pieces that were marked as war booty from the Sino-Japanese War and sold in Japan. All these objects were acquired by Joseph Schedel from Bamberg during a longer stay in Japan. According to his own statement, the pharmacist conducted scientific and anthropological research. The majority of his studies, lectures and notes are preserved in the Bamberg city archives and are currently being examined in detail.
Diary entries about his later collecting activities in China have already shown that Schedel knowingly took advantage of forced situations, such as the dissolution of monasteries, to secure valuable objects at unreasonably low prices. So far, only Schedel's lecture manuscripts on the Ainu have been identified. Furthermore, notes were found that Schedel partially edited his own notes before handing them over to the city and that official representatives of the city disposed of objectionable parts of the notes in the 1940s.
The aim of the project is to determine, as far as possible, the specific provenance of the objects under investigation and to process them scientifically. At the same time, it is important to determine the context from which they were taken at the time of acquisition and how they were used - for example, as research objects. The project is accompanied and supported by experts and representatives of the society of origin (e.g. National Ainu Museum, Ainu Association of Hokkaidō, etc.). The project results will be made accessible to as wide a public as possible, for example through a special exhibition.
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