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Stick charts were navigational aids. The sticks depict currents, wave patterns and directions. The snail shells represent the exact location of the Marshall Island Group, which consists of two north-to-south chains of atolls. Stick charts were made in keeping with information passed on from generation to generation and the nautical experience of specialists.
Donated by Eugen Brandeis (Imperial Governor of the Marshall Islands) April 1900, collected by Antonie Brandeis (Jaluit) /Donated by Eugen Brandeis (Imperial Governor of the Marshall Islands) April 1900, collected by Antonie Brandeis (Jaluit)
Object no. 177 (Object list Antonie Brandeis, 1st consignment 1900, SAF D.Sm 35/1): "Oah in meddow. Shells and wood".
This is a so-called mattang card, which was used for instruction/training. In her commentary on the first item from 1900 (SAF D.Sm 35/1), Antonie Brandeis refers to Winkler's article to explain the cards she sent along. As Winkler presents similar maps in his article, which he had already donated to the Ethnological Museum in Berlin in 1898 (including VI/15281), it can be assumed that the staff cards in the Brandeis collection are reproductions that were produced commercially for European collectors from a certain point in time. This is also supported by the excellent condition of the map and the use of different shells, which is unusual.
Maps like this were usually made by chiefs. Unfortunately, it is not known by whom.
