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FEATURE 128 FIG. 28: Shield no. 11, donated by Le Coq d’Armandville in 1929 to the MRAH in Brussels, then acquired by exchange by the Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale in Tervuren in 1979. MRAC inv. #EO.1979.1.1255. of ethnographic objects and collections; how, I argued, can we evaluate these objects if we do not know when, by whom, and under what circumstances they were collected? The story behind an object gives it depth and texture, a historical patina. I don’t remember his exact words, but the gist was this: He had no interest whatsoever in the historical background of his objects and preferred it if they didn’t have any documentation at all. To leave no misunderstanding, he stated that for him, the best provenance imaginable for an old Asmat shield was that it had washed up on a beach somewhere. Who had made or collected the shield or when and how it had ended up on the beach, were things best left to the imagination. His statement baffles me still. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe a debt of gratitude to Wil Roebroeks and Michel Thieme, who helped me trace the various objects and photographs. Without them I wouldn’t have been able to document and write this history. I would also like to thank the families who, without exception, warmly received me and provided access to their “Viegen ethnographics.” In addition, I’d like to sincerely thank Otto Lankhorst, Caspar van den Berg, and Gaby Kamps of the Center for the Heritage of Dutch Religious Life for their aid and suggestions during my search in this great archive, and Tristan Mostert for reading the final drafts of this article and aiding in its translation into English.


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