Invoice of J.F.G. Umlauff

This invoice from the year 1900 shows the elaborate letterhead of the J.F.G. Umlauff company. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Hamburg-based enterprise was among the most important dealers of ethnographical and natural-historical objects in Europe. Objects purchased through this trading house are found in the collections of many museums around the world. The company was especially well-known for its taxidermically prepared animals and its life-sized human figures, which it offered for sale individually or in groups. Usually produced on the basis of photographs and anthropometric data and furnished with ostensibly typical objects, the figures were meant to convey to museum visitors a “true-to-life” impression of the persons and populations portrayed.