MEB 320-4

Research by: Sarai Martín López
Institució dipositària: Museu Etnològic i de Cultures del Món (MuEC)
Nº inventari institucional: MEB 320-4
Breu descripció institucional: Hat
Advertiment: Definition given in the institution's own inventories, which we do not necessarily share and which in some cases may be offensive or the result of prejudice.
Material: Not recorded in the museum's inventories
Advertiment: Terms used by scientific and academic institutions to describe the material collections held by museums of ethnology, natural history or zoology, which overlook other non-Western forms of designation and classification. While we do not necessarily share these terms, we nevertheless use them in provenance research such as this.
Mesures: Not recorded in the museum's inventories
Mètode d’adquisició: Purchase
Advertiment: This refers to the process of acquisition of the object/specimen by the institution currently holding it, and not to the first transfer it underwent from its original context. If you have information that may be relevant to the provenance of the object/specimen, please write to comunicacio@traficants.org.

Lloc d'adquisició: Equatorial Guinea
Advertiment: Data extracted from the documentary collections of the institution, which may be erroneous or incorrectly transcribed. The historical toponymy (often of colonial origin) has been retained to give coherence to the research.
Place of production/origin: Not recorded in the museum's inventories
Advertiment: Data extracted from the documentary collections of the institution, which may be erroneous or incorrectly transcribed. The historical toponymy (often of colonial origin) has been retained to give coherence to the research.
Collector: Jordi Sabater Pi
Advertiment: The personal or institutional names that appear, often associated with the colonial order, may be offensive or the result of prejudice. These references are used to give coherence to the research.
Donant: Martin Angue (not recorded in the museum's inventories)
Advertiment: The personal or institutional names that appear, often associated with the colonial order, may be offensive or the result of prejudice. These references are used to give coherence to the research.
Classification group: Not recorded in the museum's inventories (in theory, Fang)
Advertiment: Data extracted from the documentary collections of the institution, which may be erroneous or incorrectly transcribed, and which we do not necessarily share. We keep a terminology (tribe, people, ethnicity, race, country, etc.), created or manipulated during the colonial period, to give coherence to the research.
Holder of the legal property rights: Barcelona City Council
Advertiment: Reference is made to the holder of the rights recognized by the legal and juridical systems of the former colonial metropolises, regardless of the property rights that may emanate from the communities of origin.

Summary of results

This is a hat bought by Jordi Sabater Pi from Martin Angue in Bidjabidjan (Kié-Ntem, Equatorial Guinea) between May and June 1961. It belongs to a series of five hats made and bought in Angue, with dossier number MEB 320.

Chronological reconstruction of provenance

This hat was purchased by Jordi Sabater Pi between May and June 1961 on one of the expeditions carried out for the acquisition of ethnological material, as part of his work as curator of the Ikunde Centre for Conservation and Animal Acclimatization. Specifically, it was purchased from the same hatmaker, Martin Angue, in Bidjabidjan (Kié-Ntem, Equatorial Guinea). In the documentation kept in the dossiers, we find invoices for the acquisition of five male and five female Fang hats (dossier MEB 320), but from the information available it cannot be deduced to which of the five hats acquired each one corresponds. The price paid for the hats was around 900 pesetas (MEB L128 04 02).

In addition to this, in one of the dossiers we find a letter from Sabater Pi to Panyella on 9 July 1961, in which he says the following: ‘taking advantage of the space in one of the boxes of the shipment of animals that we sent to the Zoo yesterday, I included in one of the two “Fang” hats of those acquired recently. One of them, the one with four ridges, is a male Bikong-meñí, and the other is a female hat called Nsusúm. I hope you like them and I will try to send you the others when I can’. He also mentioned that he would try to avoid the tax obligations for the shipment: ‘You know that now we have very little money left, I reserve it for films and photographs, also think that now the Government’s permission, for the shipment, is taxed with 500 pesetas (‘Parafiscal levies’ [sic]), I will try to avoid it, of course’. At the end of the letter, we find a handwritten note confirming that it has been sent free of charge: ‘This shipment has been made in such a way that it has been sent free of postage, I am referring to the weight of your hats’ (MEB L128 48 02).

Estimation of provenance

This hat was purchased from Martin Angue in Bidjabidjan (Kié-Ntem, Equatorial Guinea).

Possible alternative classifications

No alternative classifications are apparent. However, it would be advisable to specify the specific place of acquisition (Bidjabidjan, Kié-Ntem, Equatorial Guinea), the manufacturer and seller (Martin Angue), and to correct the date of purchase (May-June 1961).