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Diverse collector profiles
The circulation of objects between France and India increased in the 18th century. The collections of the Royal Library were enriched with manuscripts at the initiative of Jean-Paul Bignon. He called on Jesuits such as Jean-François Pons, who sent nearly 200 manuscripts from Chandernagor in the 1730s. At the same time, the commercial success of the French East India Company paved the way for an increase in the number of travellers and the development of colonial possessions, multiplying opportunities for collecting. Although the Treaty of Paris (1763) limited the French presence to the five trading posts, collecting continued to develop in a variety of ways.
Travellers, merchants and soldiers known as "adventurers", some of whom were employed by the French East India Company, the East India Company and Indian sovereigns, were eager collectors. Among them were Claude Martin, Antoine Polier and Jean-Baptiste Joseph Gentil. Claude-Auguste Court, Jean-François Allard and Jean-Baptiste Ventura, employed by Ranjit Singh, repatriated collections to France, mainly comprising Indo-Greek and Greco-Bactrian coins.
Colonial administrators such as Édouard Ariel and Philippe-Étienne Ducler were particularly adept at building collections. Branches of the colonial administration also facilitated scientific collecting missions throughout the sub-continent. Victor Jacquemont collected plant and rock samples for the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle. At the request of the Ministry of Public Instruction, Charles d'Ochoa visited India in 1843-1844 and acquired manuscripts and printed texts. Auguste Lesouëf illustrates the role of collectors based in France.
An overview of collected objects
Over time, collectors' interests evolved, as did the conditions under which objects were acquired and transported, contributing to enriching the typology of collections. In the 18th century, manuscripts, miniatures, weapons and luxury handicrafts figured prominently in collections. These objects illustrate the high level of refinement of Indian civilization, particularly that of the Mughal nobility. Collectors came to acquire them by means of purchases and commissions. Miniatures also had the advantage of being relatively easy to transport on board a ship. In contrast, statues, which were objects of worship, were not easy to obtain. This, combined with the cost of transporting large objects over thousands of kilometres and the prejudices associated with Hindu statuary, explains their relatively low presence in collections built up during this period.
During the 19th century, photography became a major part of the collections. Édouard Manès, Governor of the French Establishments, donated photographs to the Société de Géographie (1887), while the explorer Isabelle Massieu brought back albums from her trip to India and the Himalayas at the end of the 19th century. The collections were also open to audiovisual documents. Albert Kahn's Archives de la Planète project, for example, produced autochromes and black-and-white films.
It is partly through archaeological activities that statues became part of collections. Gabriel Jouveau-Dubreuil excavated sites in South India while teaching in Pondicherry: his name is attached to the collection of Indian statues now housed at the musée Guimet.
The power of collections
Adventurers and administrators gave collections an emotional value. The objects are souvenirs of their stay in India, which explains their desire to bring them back to France.
Collections were also seen as sources on which to build new knowledge about India. All branches of knowledge were involved, from literature and botany to religion, astronomy and medicine.
The objects collected were intended to represent India's history, society and resources. Such is the case of the "Farenghi paintings", works commissioned by Europeans from Indian artists, and photographs, which have in common a focus on subjects such as architecture or the castes and trades. When deployed in a colonial context, this documentary aim took on a political dimension: the objects carried with them the assertion of power over the territories and populations of India.
In addition to these (not mutually exclusive) different uses and meanings, a strictly aesthetic, literary or artistic interest emerged in works depicting the elsewhere, the exotic and the distant.
Published in july 2024
