Elio Modigliani's view of Nias: a case study of 19th century ethnological collection criteria

In this article we tested the assumption that nineteenth century ethnological collectionism was restricted towards "pure", uncontaminated and "primitive" objects. We choose as a case study the 1886 ethnographic collection of Elio Modigliani (Florence, 1860- Viareggio, 1932) from Nias, an island North-West of Sumatra. Modigliani was a paradigmatic figure of the 19th century scientific collector and he supposedly followed these collection criteria. However, our study on the collection as well as primary sources reveals that Modigliani intentionally collected objects and artifacts that were contaminated "from outside" contacts. Indeed, Modigliani even investigated how these new elements were included and integrated into Nias material culture.