The American naturalist Abbott William Louis exhibition
Amassing Treasures in Southeast Asia
By SONIA KOLESNIKOV-JESSOP
Published: July 30, 2009SINGAPORE — Collecting in Southeast Asia in the late 19th century and early 20th century was often driven by scientific objectives, like the desire to learn about the area’s unique flora and fauna, or to better understand the indigenous tribes living on the region’s many islands. Some of the early collectors, like the great American naturalist William Louis Abbott (1860-1936), “hunted” down artifacts through remote expeditions, but others were missionaries who formed bonds with local communities, or civil servants taking advantage of their foreign postings to indulge in personal interests.
Collection of the Asian Civilisations Museum
A carved wooden ancestor figurine from Nias in Western Sumatra, Indonesia.
“Hunters and Collectors: The Beginnings of the Southeast Asian Collection,” running until Sept. 21 at the Asian Civilisations Museum, focuses on several of these early collectors and features some of the artifacts they amassed, juxtaposing them with those collected directly by curators of the Raffles Library and Museum, Singapore’s first museum, which was founded by the British colonial administration in 1849 and whose primary focus was natural history. (The building now houses the Singapore National Museum, and the Raffles collection was spread among different national museums in the early 1990s, including the Asian Civilisations Museum.)“This exhibition gives us the opportunity to share some of the history behind our collection,” said Dr. Kenson Kwok, the civilization museum’s director.
The exhibition unfolds in two parts. The first focuses on six colorful individuals who demonstrate the diverse backgrounds of private collectors of the period. One of these is Abbott, who, having received a substantial inheritance in his early 20s, self-financed many expeditions to collect animal specimens and ethnographic objects, many of which can be found today in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. From 1896, he spent 10 years in Southeast Asia, using Singapore as a base from which to explore the region’s islands with a 20-meter, or 65-foot, schooner, The Terrapin.
Abbott donated a collection of Borneo baskets to the Raffles Museum, on display in the exhibition. The baskets are particularly valuable today. “Many of these weaving and construction techniques are a dying art, such as a very intricate herringbone pattern,” said Clement Onn, the curator of the exhibition.
The sea captain Giovanni Battista Cerruti (1850-1914) traveled extensively throughout the Malay Peninsula in search of gold, and his maritime expertise gave him the opportunity to accompany well-known explorers like the Italian anthropologist Elio Modigliani, whom he joined on a trip to Nias Island, off the western coast of Sumatra. Cerruti brought back various wooden ancestral figurines, which are on display. “They would be carved by a shaman to receive the dying breath of a person,” said Mr. Onn. “That way the essence of the elder was retained in the sculptures.”
Cerruti also spent 15 years living amongst the Mai Darat Tribe, an indigenous Malay tribe referred to as the Sakai, meaning slaves. He recorded his experiences in a book, “My Friends the Savages — Notes and Observations of a Perak settler (Malay Peninsula).”
“Cerruti’s contribution lies not just in the materials he collected but also in his insight to the cultures of the indigenous people he lived with,” said Mr. Onn. “His book encouraged readers to look at them not as savages or slaves, but as people with established traditions and rights.”
Unlike these two explorers, other collectors had not come to the region with collecting as a specific goal. Arthur Frederick Sharp (1866-1960) was regarded as one of the most influential Anglican missionaries to Southeast Asia. Between 1897 and 1909, as archdeacon of St. Thomas’ Cathedral in Sarawak, Borneo, he formed a close bond with the Iban Dayak people and they often gave him gifts. He eventually passed the gifts on to the Raffles Museum, selling some and donating others. Some of his artifacts on display include an unusual Dayak war coat, made of bark and fish scales, and a crocodile idol, a figurine that would have been used to ward off sickness.
The most colorful collector featured in the exhibition is Gerald Brousseau Gardner (1884-1964), an English civil servant and occultist with a passion for tales of the supernatural, including stories of witches and fairies. The rubber plantation inspector was a weapons enthusiast and collected many keris (an asymmetrical dagger that some believe has supernatural powers), as well as carved bullet holders and protective helmets. After his return to England in the late 1930s he wrote the now famous books “Witchcraft Today” and “The Meaning of Witchcraft” and became the “resident witch” in the Museum of Magic and Witchcraft on the Isle of Man.
The second, less interesting part of the exhibition recreates the feel of the old Raffles Museum with its cabinets of curiosities; its Southeast Asian ethnographic collection, such as a finely carved wooden gunpowder flask from the Batak people, an indigenous tribe from north Sumatra; and natural history specimens. Some of the stuffed animals, like the Bornean ferret-badger and the Malaysian summit rat, are nearly extinct today.
The exhibition ends with a comparison of the museum’s current method of collecting with past practices. Dr. Kwok said the old displays, which took a more encyclopedic approach, contrast with today’s thematic exhibitions, which focus on a few iconic pieces that bring their subjects’ stories alive.
First name William Louis
Last name Abbott
Dates 1860-1936Description Abbott, W.L. Groups: BS. Organisations: A, B, BM, F, GH, JBSD, K, MO, NY, P, PH, SING, US. Collected: (1889-1923) Malaysian region: Indonesia (Sumatera Barat, Sumatera Utara); Tropical Africa: Tanzania; Madagascan region: Madagascar; Mascarenes: Seychelles (Aldabra); North America: USA (Maryland, Pennsylvania); West Indies: Dominica, Dominican Republic.
Associates: Kloss, C.B. (1877-1949), Leonard, E.C. (1892-1968) (co-collectors). 8:2, 17:2, 19:25 American physician and field naturalist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who trained at the University of Pennsylvania (A.B., 1881; M.D., 1884).
He continued medical education in England and attained Licentiates from the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Physicians. Despite his achievements, he gave up his medical career when he received his inheritance and became independently wealthy. Instead, he pursued his interests in natural history, particularly ornithology, and in travel. He had made early collections of birds from Iowa and North Dakota (1880), from Cuba and the Dominican Republic (1883), and donated his collection of birds of Philadelphia and New Jersey to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.
His major travels began with an expedition to Mount Kilimanjaro in East Africa (1887-1888) making collections which were donated to the Smithsonian Institution (1890).
He also collected in Madagascar and the Seychelles, though his early African natural history material probably contained comparatively few botanical specimens. He travelled to Kashmir, India (1891) where he based himself and collected for the next few years, making expeditions to the Seychelles (1892) and Kazakhstan (1893-1894). In 1894 he went to Madagascar to enlist in the native army against the second French occupation of the island, but suspicion of foreigners forced his resignation. He travelled and collected in Madagascar before returning to Kashmir in 1895. In 1896, he began collecting for the Smithsonian in Southeast Asia, but contracted a fever in Thailand and returned to Kashmir to recuperate, making a brief expedition to Tibet (Xizang) in 1898. He served as a volunteer in Cuba (1898) but was wounded and returned to the United States until he was fit to travel once more to Southeast Asia. Using Singapore as a base, he had the schooner Terrapin constructed (1899) and explored much of the region, often in the company of C.B. Kloss. His collections of this period include ethnological artifacts and photographs. His travels ceased following an eye disease which led to the sale of his schooner and specialist treatment in Europe (1909). During this period he financed the Borneo expedition (1910) of his field assistant, the zoologist H.C. Raven. On his recovery, Abbott returned to Kashmir (1910-1916) where he continued to collect. The final phase of his collecting took place in the West Indies where he collected in the Dominican Republic (1916) and Haiti (1917-1918) before an attack of dysentry proved to be almost fatal. He made botanical collections with E.C. Leonard in Haiti (1920). Abbott returned to the highlands of Dominican Republic (1921-1923) until his eventual retirement from field collecting to a farm on the Elk River in Maryland. Despite his pre-eminence as a field naturalist, Abbot did not publish accounts of his travels though many publications are based on his collections.Sutton, D.A.
Contributor Natural History Museum (BM)
Country Tanzania, Madagascar
Organisation A, B, BM, K, MO, NY, P, US