Impressions of the Teijgeler Collection

18 March 2022

In December 2021, CSMC received a generous donation of special written artefacts from René Teijgeler, a renowned researcher and advisor in the field of Critical Cultural Heritage. Our photo gallery provides an impression of the diversity of his collection.

Since late December 2021, white packages have been piling up in the library rooms at Warburgstraße 26. All wrapped in the same acid-free paper, but very different in shape, size, and weight, they contain written artefacts that Jan van der Putten and Roberta Zollo brought from Utrecht in the Netherlands to Hamburg shortly before Christmas. These written artefacts were part of the private collection of René Teijgeler, an eminent researcher and advisor in the field of Critical Cultural Heritage, who generously donated these objects to CSMC (learn more about Teijgeler and his remarkable career here).

In total, the donation includes more than 60 objects. Among them are several manuscripts from the Batak culture, which played an important role in Teijgeler’s early scientific career, but also written artefacts from many other cultures, mostly from Asia, such as Tibetan, Burmese, and Javanese manuscripts. Teijgeler started this collection of manuscripts and writing implements in the late 1980s, using the objects as samples for his studies in codicology, writing materials, writing implements, and paper history. Most of them were collected during his travels in South and Southeast Asia and the Middle East where Teijgeler was working on arts and crafts projects for Fair Trade Assistance and other agencies.

Sighting these objects, not to mention researching them, has only just begun at CSMC and will take a considerable amount of time. Meanwhile, to get an impression of the diversity of the collection, we have compiled a photo gallery providing a close look at some of the objects.

Photo: Karsten Helmholz

Madurese manuscript on paper, written in Pegon script by different authors. The sheets are held together by an Indonesian leather envelope.

Photo: Karsten Helmholz

Madurese manuscript on paper, written in Pegon script by different authors. The sheets are held together by an Indonesian leather envelope.

Photo: Karsten Helmholz

Madurese manuscript on dluwang (beaten treebark (tapa) from Java/Madura), probably 1821.

Photo: Karsten Helmholz

Thai Buddhist leporello made of black paper with white text and illustrations.

Photo: Karsten Helmholz

Burmese Buddhist ordination manuscript (Kammavaca) with two gilded and lacquered wooden covers; 16 copper leaves with black Pali script.

Photo: Karsten Helmholz

Burmese Buddhist ordination manuscript (Kammavaca) with two gilded and lacquered wooden covers; 16 copper leaves with black Pali script.

Photo: Karsten Helmholz

Object for divination made from wood, carved in form of a human figure, and bamboo or rattan strips; detail. It contains an oracle text from the Batak people, Lake Toba, Sumatra, Indonesia.

Photo: Karsten Helmholz

Object for divination made from wood, carved in form of a human figure, and bamboo or rattan strips; detail. It contains an oracle text from the Batak people, Lake Toba, Sumatra, Indonesia.

Photo: Karsten Helmholz

Amulet from northern Thailand. Thai (probably Shan or Lan Na) text on paper.

Photo: Karsten Helmholz

Palmleaf manuscript with carved wooden covers from Lombok, Indonesia.

Photo: Karsten Helmholz

Palmleaf manuscript with carved wooden covers from Lombok, Indonesia.

Photo: Karsten Helmholz

Tibetan paper manuscript kept in a modern Tibetan cover.

Photo: Karsten Helmholz

Tibetan paper manuscript kept in a modern Tibetan cover.

Photo: Karsten Helmholz

English contract between Mrs. Sarah Trueman and Mr. Thomas Nightingale, concerning the 'mortage of a dwelling house and premises in Scarborough', dated 10 May 1824.

Photo: Karsten Helmholz

English contract between Mrs. Sarah Trueman and Mr. Thomas Nightingale, concerning the 'mortage of a dwelling house and premises in Scarborough', dated 10 May 1824.

Photo: Karsten Helmholz

Yao religious painted scroll on paper. It shows Fam Ts'ing, 'the three pure ones', which represent the celestial. The scroll is hung vertically and has a ritual function.

Photo: Karsten Helmholz

Yao religious painted scroll on paper (verso).

Photo: Karsten Helmholz

Love song written on bamboo by the Mangyans of Mindoro in ancient Indian characters; the script resembles that of the Batak in North Sumatra and the Rejang script in South Sumatra. This object is a replica.