French Consulate, Larnaca

Not a holding body. Marangou, quoting Caubet, says the Louvre's Cypriot collection is made up almost entirely of antiquities sent by the French consuls who served in the island. (2000)

Marangou 2000

1. 7 June 1685
   Consul B. Sauvan tells the Marquis de Seignelay he is sending a case of manuscripts and medals with 'an idol found at Nicosia': the earliest recorded export of a Cypriot figure to France; its fate is unknown.

   B. SauvanAmandry et al. 1987

2. 1685
   Sauvan is described as particularly active in buying manuscripts from Cypriot monasteries and churches for the French crown; Metcalf estimates 250-300 Cypriot-bought manuscripts are now in the Bibliotheque nationale.

   B. SauvanMetcalf 2009

3. October 1755
   Benoit Astier appointed consul in Cyprus (brevet of October 1755); still described as presiding over the French merchants' guild in 1788.

   Benoît AstierAmandry et al. 1987, p. 2, n. 3Cobham 1908, p. 351Mariti 1909

4. 1755–1764
   Charged by the comte de Caylus with collecting antiquities, Astier sends Egyptian or Egyptianizing bronzes and a 49 cm limestone male votary statuette, published by Caylus in 1764 as found in a tomb; Amandry, Hermary and Masson date it to the early 6th century BCE and say it is the first ancient Cypriot object known to have entered a great French collection (how it reached the Cabinet du Roi is not stated).

   Benoît AstierAnne Claude Philippe, comte de CaylusAmandry et al. 1987, p. 2-3, n. 3-6

5. 1821
   During the 1821 disturbances, consul Mechain protects Greek refugees under French protection and obtains firmans against the Governor, as praised in a text printed by Cobham.

   MéchainCobham 1908, pp. 454-455

6. c. 1829–1834
   The young Aime Peretie works at the consulate as private secretary to consul Mechain and unofficial drogman and chancelier before moving to Tripoli (Syria); he later became the Beirut dealer who supplied Vogue, Luynes and de Clercq. His son Alfred was born at Larnaca in 1832.

   Napoléon Antoine Aimé PéretiéMéchainCassimatis 2001, p. 239

7. 18 May 1840 – 14 July 1845
   Dagobert Fourcade is consul at Larnaca (Bonato; Masson gives 1839-1845). He copies Greek inscriptions at Paphos and writes the 1844 Memoire on the island, which notes the Amathus urn and the digging of statuettes at Idalion; no antiquities of his own are documented.

   Dagobert FourcadeBonato 2000, p. 3Masson 1992, p. 123Fourcade 2000

8. July 1845 – 1846
   Consul Charles Goepp (in post July 1845 to October 1848) receives Louis de Mas Latrie, the first French scientific mission to Cyprus; Mas Latrie's letter of 18 April 1846 says the consul had the Sargon II stele sheltered, and Merrillees notes a hint that Goepp was involved.

   Charles Frédéric Théodore GoëppLouis de Mas LatrieAmandry et al. 1987, p. 3Merrillees 2016Masson 1992, p. 123

9. 1851
   A fragmentary Phoenician silver bowl (Louvre AO 20135) is said to have been bought by consul Eugene Tastu (in post 6 October 1848 to 15 September 1852) from a Larnaca goldsmith and passed to Felicien de Saulcy, who gave it to the Louvre in 1851. The colourful details come from later retellings; Saulcy's own diary is silent and Merrillees treats the Idalion provenance as unsupported.

   Eugène TastuFélicien de SaulcyMerrillees 2016Masson 1992, p. 123

10. July 1860 – March 1862
    Comte Edouard du Tour is consul at Larnaca; in January 1862 he lodges Vogue and Duthoit of the Vogue mission and keeps the mission's purchased heads at the consulate; on 4 February 1862 he reassures the Pasha over the Athienou stele that Vogue bought.

    Edouard du TourMelchior de VogüéEdmond DuthoitSosthène Grasset d'OrcetFoucart-Borville 1985, n. 4Bonato 1999

11. March 1862 – July 1865
    Consul Louis Dumesnil de Maricourt (arrived March 1862, died of cholera in 1865) is described by Masson as the first French consul to form a small collection of Cypriot objects (pieces at the Louvre and at Senlis); his family dug at the Salt Lake of Larnaca in 1864-65; he quarrelled with Duthoit over removing the Amathus vase.

    Louis Dumesnil de MaricourtEdmond DuthoitMasson 1992Foucart-Borville 1985Bonato 2010, p. 2

12. 22 January 1866 – December 1869
    Consul Tiburce Colonna-Ceccaldi has peasants dig at the Salines of Larnaca and, from 1867, at Dali (Idalion) and elsewhere, reporting on them to the Academie des Inscriptions on 16 October 1868. Masson judges the harvest rich but without archaeological context.

    Dali and LarnacaDominique Albert Edouard Tiburce Colonna-CeccaldiGeorges Colonna CeccaldiMasson 1992, p. 137Ceccaldi 1868Masson 1990, pp. 29-30

13. January 1868 – 1874
    Gustave Laffon, acting head from January 1868 and consul after Colonna-Ceccaldi (to 1874 per Marangou's index), appears in the 1868 Tricomo farm dispute as accuser of Cesnola, the US consul. No collecting by him is attested.

    Gustave LaffonMasson 1992, p. 123 n. 5Marangou 2000, p. 172

14. 16 February 1869
    Froehner's journal of 16 February 1869 records 'the Ceccaldi collection is bought at 6,000 francs' for the Louvre; Masson links Louvre N 3293-3294 (terracotta shrine models, 'Idalion 1868') to the consul's finds.

    Dominique Albert Edouard Tiburce Colonna-CeccaldiWilhelm FroehnerHellmann 1991Masson 1992, p. 137, nn. 64-65

15. 1878–1881
    Auguste Dozon is consul in Cyprus; Caubet says he collected and that his antiquities went to the Louvre and Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1891; his 1881 plan of Larnaca is printed in CIS I. An undated letter to him from an Algiers dealer proposing a joint antiquities trade survives; nothing shows he replied.

    Louis Auguste DozonCaubet 1993, p. 11Marangou 2000, pp. 36-39

16. 1885–1889
    Consul Vicomte Eugene de Castillon de Saint-Victor excavates in the Kourion necropoleis in 1886-87 for the French Government to test Cesnola's treasure claims; finds go to the Louvre, with some jewellery and glass allotted to the Cyprus Museum.

    Vicomte Eugène de Castillon de Saint-VictorSchmid 2025Myres & Ohnefalsch-Richter 1899Kiely & Merrillees 2012

17. 1889–1891
    Alfred Peretie, son of Aime, is consul at Larnaca; Cassimatis stresses that he had little to do with archaeology, and that he handed over his father's last gift to the Louvre (a bronze leg).

    Alfred PéretiéCassimatis 2001, p. 240

18. 1891 – 29 August 1900
    Auguste-Emile Boysset is consul at Larnaca (Consul-General from 30 July 1899). He builds a large collection of Cypriot antiquities, gives pieces to the Louvre and the Bibliotheque nationale, and engages the dealer Marius Tano as substitute chancelier in 1896.

    Auguste-Emile BoyssetMarius TanoMerrillees 1992, p. 5Caubet 1993

19. 1896
    Antoine Beraud, dismissed as substitute chancelier by Boysset, and his supporters denounce Boysset to Paris for false expenses and misappropriation (letter of 21 April 1896); the French authorities were unimpressed and the matter lapsed.

    Antoine BéraudCélestin BéraudAuguste-Emile BoyssetMerrillees 1992, p. 3-4

20. July–September 1896
    Paul Perdrizet's mission, which followed Boysset's recommendation (prompted, per Goring, by Tano) that France ask the British for permission, is helped locally by Boysset, who gives or offers the Louvre Dali tuff statuettes, an Archaic head from Athienou and a gold bull-head earring.

    Paul PerdrizetAuguste-Emile BoyssetCharles FosseyMarius TanoMasson 1990Goring 1983, p. 45Merrillees 1992, p. 3-4

21. June 1897
    Merrillees finds no evidence that Boysset or the consulate bag was used to remove the first Lambousa treasure, although the suggestion has been made.

    Auguste-Emile BoyssetMerrillees 2009, p. 12

22. 6 March 1901 – 7 March 1901
    Boysset's collection is sold at the Hotel Drouot by Ve Raymond Serrure; the Sevres museum and the Lowie Museum, Berkeley, were heavy buyers.

    Auguste-Emile BoyssetVeuve Raymond Serrure (forename unknown)Merrillees 1992, p. 3