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Abaydulova A. The Images of Items from the Collection of Karl Etter at the MAE RAS: On the Problem of Attributing Museum Objects “from Early Acquisitions”

Anna Abaydulova
Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
ORCID: 0009-0000-3586-0885
E-mail: abaidulova@kunstkamera.ru

 

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ABSTRACT. The problem of attributing museum objects “from early acquisitions” is considered on the example of two graphic sheets from the MAE RAS collection — the drawing of the guardian lion shishi MAE No. 7365-1 and the engraving depicting an Indian god MAE No. 719-108/9-7. Both images are studied, the inscriptions and notes are decoded. The history of the acquisition of these items to the museum collection is restored according to published and archival sources, as well as museum documentation. It has been proved that both images are the items from the collection of Karl Etter — the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences Corresponding Member, mineralogist and collector. Etter presented the images to the Academy of Sciences in 1812, however in the course of time they lost their provenance and ended up in different museum funds. While studying the history of these images, similar pictures donated by Karl Etter to the Royal Society of Antiquaries of London were revealed. Restoring the history of acquisition of these objects fills in the gaps in the history of Kunstkamera and recovers the lost connection between the images as well. Considered together as a complex from the same collector — Karl Etter, these objects acquire a new meaning and a new value, including a memorial one. The appendix provides the list of items donated by Karl Etter to the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, mainly to the Library and the Cabinet of Mineralogy of the Kunstkamera.

 

Keywords: museum collections, museum attribution, Kunstkamera, Karl Etter, St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, history of Kunstkamera, museum studies, source studies, history of collecting

 

FOR CITATION: Abaydulova A. The Images of Items from the Collection of Karl Etter at the MAE RAS: On the Problem of Attributing Museum Objects “from Early Acquisitions”. Kunstkamera. 2023. 1(19): 151–164. (In Russian). doi 10.31250/2618-8619-2023-1(19)-151-164  

 

DOI 10.31250/2618-8619-2023-1(19)-151-164
УДК 069.5

 

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