According to an inventory from the 1990s, this chest was obtained by re-using a wooden box that originally contained bottles of refined petroleum. The same inventory tells us it is “probably [from the] coastal region of Somalia”.
Where we do have information about where an object comes from, Somalia is most often given as the place of origin. As this example shows, however, we cannot always be certain. Robecchi Bricchetti travelled to Somalia between the early 1890s and the early 1900s; a period of growing Italian presence and colonial activity there. While examining these objects, viewers are invited to consider: why (and how) might European explorers have collected objects like these, and what might have influenced their choices?