Iberian Peninsula to the indus

parts of the collection of the Swedish 
diplomat Nils Gustaf Palin in the 
year 1840 he was not interested in 
prehistoric artefacts at all, in fact he 
had no idea what the small idols and 
cups made of marble were about 
anyway. The five items – two Cycladic 
idols and three cups (one lost) – with 
the indication “from a grave on the 
island of Thera” were part of the 
“package” Maler bought in Rome. It 
was already Maler’s third journey to 
Rome; in the first (1826–1828), he was 
a student of architecture and got in 
contact with the German 
intelligenzia
, 
poets, priests and archaeologists, 
well-established persons in the Roman 
society. These good connections were 
the basis for his second successful 
journey in 1837: he was sent by the 
grand duke of Baden in Karlsruhe to 
acquire Greek vases and terracottas 
for the recently founded Museum 
called “Kunsthalle” in Karlsruhe. 
On that journey he realized that 
among the antique findings from the 
Etruscan tombs not only fine pottery 
and statuettes were worth collecting 
and to be presented in a museum 
(with the aim to educate on crafts 
and artists), but also Etruscan bronze 
objects. Maler tried to convince 
the duke to expand the order to be 
allowed to buy bronzes, but the duke 
showed no interest in his proposal. 
Three years later Maler came back 
to Rome for a third visit, this time 
for a private shopping tour. He 
bought a considerable selection of 
bronzes and other collection parts in 
between the already mentioned one 
of Gustaf Palin. Back in Karlsruhe, 
Maler faced his retirement in 1853. At 
this particular time the Grand duke 
fortunately changed his mind and 
bought his private collection. Since 
then the Badisches Landesmuseum 
is able to show an extraordinary fine 
collection of antiques with some 
objects from the Aegean dated to 
the Early Bronze Age. The collection 
brought together by Friedrich Maler 
represents the basis for the later broad 
development of the collection. The 
sitting harp player belongs to a rare 
group of figurines of “special shapes”, 
the coroplastic of the early Cycladic 
time is quantitatively dominated by 
the upright standing female idols with 
folded arms (FAF), of which we count 
over 1,600 known pieces. Among the 
groups of special forms are musicians, 
standing figurines playing flutes and 
sitting harp players. Regardless of 
their body posture the musicians 
follow the “canon” of the FAF-group 
with schematic features. Particularly 
significant is the face often thrown 
backwards on the neck – like here – 
and the small nose as the only feature 
indicated. Many studies have shown 
that the now empty spaces do not 
represent the ancient situation. The 
features of the faces and