Zwischen Nachahmung und Neuschöpfung: Kulturhistorische Zinnfiguren zu Homers Odyssee

Flat figures illustrating Homer’s Odyssey
Although tin figures had functioned as toys and educational tools from the 16th century on, the situation changed after World War I. They became collectibles, many of them claiming historical or archaeological exactitude, while still clinging to their functions as objects of both entertainment as well as instruction. Till this day, Homer’s Odyssey has remained one of the favored topics. In order to produce single flat figures, or whole series alike, designers have relied on the epic poem and its re-narrations or, even more often, on the many depictions that already exist. This strategy of following the fine arts and other modes of image production, however, cannot be dismissed as mere copying or imitation. As this contribution demonstrates, with reference to the encounters of Odysseus with Calypso, Nausicaa and the sirens, it should be conceptualized as a matter of creative play, involving adoption, variation and re-combination. Collectors themselves participate in, or enhance, this ludic creativity by painting and arranging the two-sided figures according to their own preferences.