Part of the collection was the private property of A.Tj. van der Meulen, who worked in the Dutch East Indies round 1900. In 1906 Van der Meulen brought out a book that described how he built his collection up: 'I lived in Batavia from 1895-1900. In my free time I would go to the “undercity” "[...] and nosy around in the backstreets and alley, wandering into junkshops. [...] "Good Afternoon sir, what are you looking for?", I was always asked. Indeed, what I was looking for I could not say – I just wanted to look around. And so, looking around, I would find some remarkable things that surprised me with their beauty [...].'
