Cabinet des médailles

A small but historically important Cypriot collection (statuettes, terracottas, bronzes, inscribed objects, gems, lamps, glass, coins) built from the 18th century to the 20th. The principal Cypriot works were republished in the 1994 catalogue Art antique de Chypre au Cabinet des Médailles. (1994)

Amandry et al. 1987introduction 2012

1. 1685
   French consul B. Sauvan announces from Cyprus the despatch of a chest of manuscripts and medals together with an 'idolle trouvée à Nicosie'; its final destination is unknown, so it is not securely a Cabinet acquisition.

   NicosiaB. SauvanAmandry et al. 1987

2. 1755–1764
   Consul Benoît Astier, charged by the comte de Caylus with collecting antiquities, sends a draped archaic limestone votary (49 cm, inv. Dieudonné 18, Fossati 760); published by Caylus in 1764 and later entering the Cabinet du Roi. The authors call it, to their knowledge, the first ancient Cypriot object to reach a major French collection.

   ParisBenoît AstierAnne Claude Philippe, comte de CaylusAmandry et al. 1987

3. 30 April 1847
   Melchiade Fossati completes a manuscript 'Catalogue des antiquités' for the Cabinet (manuscript found in 1987), whose numbers are used in the 1846 gifts list.

   ParisMelchiade FossatiAmandry et al. 1987

4. 1850
   The Idalion bronze tablet (Cypriot syllabic, 30 lines; Cabinet inv. Bronzes 2297) is bought from Aimé Péretié by the duc de Luynes, who later gives it to the Bibliothèque nationale.

   IdalionNapoléon Antoine Aimé PéretiéHonoré Théodoric d'Albert, duc de LuynesTatton-Brown 2001, p. 241

5. 1851
   Félicien de Saulcy gives a terracotta female statuette ('Astarte' plaque), A 2942 = 8475 (5 May 1851).

   ParisFélicien de SaulcyAmandry et al. 1987

6. 1862
   The collection of the duc de Luynes enters the Cabinet; the authors date the Cabinet's Cypriot collection becoming important to this entry. It includes the Idalion bronze tablet and other remarkable Cypriot pieces.

   ParisHonoré Théodoric d'Albert, duc de LuynesAmandry et al. 1987Caubet 1993

7. 1876–1877
   Fragments of two bronze bowls with a Phoenician dedication of the governor of Qarthadasht to Baal of Lebanon (inv. 2291), offered by Georgos N. Lanitis of Limassol, reach Paris at the end of 1876 through Georges Colonna-Ceccaldi, are studied by Renan, and are definitively bought in late summer 1877 for 900 francs (account per Matthäus).

   ParisGeorges (Georgos) N. LanitisGeorges Colonna CeccaldiErnest RenanCharles Clermont-GanneauMatthäus 2010, p. 127

8. c. 1919
   Two Mas Latrie objects were, in all probability, transferred in 1919 to the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lille; Yon notes that the Lille Cypriot collection was formed by a Louvre deposit of 1895 and a concession from the Cabinet after the First World War.

   LilleLouis de Mas LatrieAmandry et al. 1987Yon 2012

9. 1925
   Wilhelm Froehner (1834-1925) bequeaths his antiquities collection and his Carnets d'inventaire to the Cabinet. His Cypriot pieces include inscribed gems, lamps, bronzes, glass, lead curse tablets and terracottas; his Cypriot coins were not part of the bequest and have not been traced. Hellmann (1991) matches the Carnets against the Journal he kept. A Kourion lead tablet fragment from the bequest has its other half in the British Museum.

   ParisWilhelm FroehnerMarie-Christine HellmannHellmann 1991, p. 17, n. 4, p. 21Mitford 1971, p. 297

10. 1967
    Comte and comtesse Henri de Boisgelin give the Cabinet coins, gems and glyptic from the collection of Louis De Clercq (published by G. Le Rider and H. Seyrig); the antiquities, including most Cypriot pieces taken from the collection, went to the Louvre.

    ParisHenri (Louis) de Boisgelin, comte de BoisgelinLouis Constantin Henri François-Xavier de ClercqG. Le RiderHenri SeyrigRider & Seyrig 1967, p. 466Cannavò 2012, p. 6

11. 1994
    Exhibition 'Art antique de Chypre' and its small catalogue present the main Cypriot works in the Cabinet.

    Parisintroduction 2012Dissinger 2017, p. 497

• Archaic limestone draped male votary, conical cap, 49 cm, three fragments rejoined

  Inv. 18 (760); Dieudonné 18, Fossati 760via Anne Claude Philippe, comte de Caylus1755–1764Amandry et al. 1987

• Limestone female statuette with flower ('kore'), c. early 4th c. BCE

  Dieudonné 20, Fossati 761from Dalivia Louis de Mas Latrie1846Amandry et al. 1987

• Fragment of large hollow-moulded terracotta female head, late 7th/early 6th c. BCE, moon-in-crescent symbol

  5658from Dalivia Louis de Mas Latrie1846Amandry et al. 1987

• Small crowned male limestone head, c. third quarter 5th c. BCE

  Dieudonné 138, Fossati 690from Dalivia Louis de Mas Latrie1846Amandry et al. 1987

• Idalion bronze tablet, Cypriot syllabic inscription of 30 lines

  Bronzes 2297from Idalionvia Honoré Théodoric d'Albert, duc de Luynes1862Caubet 1993Masson 1990

• Two bronze bowl fragments with Phoenician dedication to Baal of Lebanon

  2291via Georges (Georgos) N. Lanitis1877Matthäus 2010, p. 127

• Terracotta female statuette ('Astarte' plaque)

  A 2942 = 8475via Félicien de Saulcy1851Amandry et al. 1987

• Lead curse tablet (defixio) fragment, 3rd c. AD, other half in the British Museum

  from Kourionvia Wilhelm Froehner1925Mitford 1971, p. 297Hellmann 1991, p. 21

• Coin collection of Melchior de Vogüé: 1,664 pieces including 41 antique Cypriot coins (three of Evagoras)

  via Melchior de VogüéTatton-Brown 2001, p. 214