Musée du Louvre

Cypriot antiquities are kept in the Département des Antiquités orientales, not with the classical collections. The sculpture catalogue of 1989 is dominated by Golgoi, and more than a thousand sculptures arrived with the Vogüé and Duthoit missions alone. Roughly 164 Cypriot works placed on deposit elsewhere had been audited by 2007. (2007)

Tatton-Brown 2001, p. 144Caubet 1993Dunn-Vaturi 2007, p. 78

1. 1793
   Caubet gives the museum as created in 1793 under the name Museum Central des Arts; a department of antiquities followed in 1800 and an Egyptian section in 1826.

   Tatton-Brown 2001, p. 141

2. 1847
   The Louvre opened the first European museum devoted to Assyria. Longpérier's notice for the new gallery already linked Cyprus to Assyria, and a plaster cast of the Sargon II stele from Larnaca (original in Berlin, donated by the Prussian government) was displayed beside the Khorsabad reliefs, an association Caubet calls decisive for the place of Cyprus in the Oriental Antiquities department.

   LarnacaTatton-Brown 2001, p. 141-143Merrillees 2016

3. 1851
   Félicien de Saulcy presented a silver bowl (AO 20135 = N 3454), said to have been bought from a Larnaca silversmith by the French consul Eugène Tastu, plus terracotta figurines and a limestone offering-bearer statue (MN 1625) collected on a stop in Cyprus. Merrillees argues the bowl was probably found at Kition rather than Idalion.

   Félicien de SaulcyEugène TastuMerrillees 2016Tatton-Brown 2001, p. 143

4. 1853
   The second Phoenician silver bowl, AO 20134 (= N 3455 or N 3433 in other accounts), entered the Louvre; its provenance is unconfirmed. Longpérier credited the duc de Luynes's generosity; Merrillees finds no evidence Saulcy was involved.

   Honoré Théodoric d'Albert, duc de LuynesAdrien de LongpérierMerrillees 2016Tatton-Brown 2001, p. 143

5. 1854
   Aimé Péretié gave three Cypriot limestone heads (one colossal) brought by Saulcy, per museum archives and a letter of Longpérier.

   Napoléon Antoine Aimé PéretiéCassimatis 2001, p. 242

6. 1860–1865
   The Guillaume-Rey fonds, about 40 objects including the Phoenician-inscribed Melqart base AO 4826 and the colossal Idalion limestone king (N 1085), came by gift and sale. Caubet treats this as the origin of the Louvre's Cypriot collection.

   IdalionAlban Emmanuel Guillaume-ReyCaubet 1993Tatton-Brown 2001, p. 144

7. 1862–1865
   The Vogüé mission (1862, with William Waddington and the architect Edmond Duthoit) and Duthoit's solo campaign of 1865 supplied the bulk of the collection: more than a thousand sculptures, inscriptions and terracottas from Golgoi, Malloura, Paphos, Trapeza and elsewhere, plus the 13-tonne Amathus stone vase (AO 22897), shipped on a French warship. Longpérier did not inventory the arrivals; they were stacked in a store and registered only in 1968-69.

   GolgoiMelchior de VogüéEdmond DuthoitHenry William WaddingtonAdrien de LongpérierCaubet 1993Tatton-Brown 2001, p. 144-145

8. 1862
   Wilhelm Froehner became attaché then assistant curator at the Louvre beside Longpérier; his journal records his role in vetting Cypriot offers and cataloguing for the dealer Hoffmann.

   Wilhelm FroehnerHenri HoffmannHellmann 1991

9. 1866
   Eleven cases, eight barrels and three monoliths were shipped from Larnaca to the Louvre with Mattei on a State vessel (consigned by Paul Tardieu).

   LarnacaPaul TardieuFoucart-Borville 1985

10. 1866–1870
    Tiburce Colonna-Ceccaldi, French consul at Larnaca 1866-69, supplied Archaic terracottas and pottery from Idalion and the monumental Lady of Tricomo (N 3497). His letters to Froehner record that he had sent 14 medieval tombstones from Kolossi and 20 cases from Duthoit's digs, and that the Louvre bought his collection for 6,000 francs in February 1869.

    IdalionDominique Albert Edouard Tiburce Colonna-CeccaldiGeorges Colonna CeccaldiWilhelm FroehnerCaubet 1993Hellmann 1991

11. 1870
    At the Paris sale of Luigi Palma di Cesnola's collection in March 1870 the Louvre bought items entered as inventory N 3519-3532: an inscribed base from Salamis, some sculptures and small terracottas. Masson describes the Louvre's direct purchases as few. Negotiations for a larger sale of Cesnola's Golgoi finds to the Louvre were broken off by the Franco-German war in July 1870.

    Luigi Palma di CesnolaMasson 1996

12. 1870
    Adrien de Longpérier resigned as curator of antiquities; Léon Heuzey entered the Louvre as assistant that year and reorganised the Assyrian, Phoenician and Cypriot rooms in 1876-77.

    Adrien de LongpérierLéon HeuzeyTatton-Brown 2001, p. 145

13. 1871–1872
    Pieces from the Cesnola sales reached the Louvre through the dealers Henri Hoffmann and Feuardent; Ohnefalsch-Richter's shares from Marion-Arsinoe and Achna also came through the Paris trade, with Hoffmann often the intermediary.

    Henri HoffmannGaston Louis FeuardentMax Ohnefalsch-RichterCaubet 1993Masson 1990

14. 1872
    Robert Hamilton Lang gave sculptures from his Idalion and Pyla work, including local Artemis figures (MNB 358, MNB 757), after good relations with Georges Colonna-Ceccaldi.

    Robert Hamilton LangGeorges Colonna CeccaldiCaubet 1993

15. 1874
    Pierre Trabaud gave the results of his 1874 excavations to the Louvre and to the Borély museum in Marseille.

    Pierre TrabaudCaubet 1993

16. 1875
    A distribution of 1,777 works from Louvre stores to 70 towns included thirteen fragmentary Cypriot figurines for the Crozatier museum at Le Puy-en-Velay, probably Guillaume-Rey or Duthoit material.

    Dunn-Vaturi 2007, p. 72-74

17. 1881
    The Département des Antiquités orientales was created with Léon Heuzey as first curator, absorbing the Cypriot sculpture and terracottas already in the museum.

    Léon HeuzeyCaubet 1993

18. 1882–1923
    Heuzey's Catalogue des figurines antiques de terre cuite (1882), the first scientific study of oriental terracottas including Cypriot ones, was revised by Pottier in 1923.

    Léon HeuzeyEdmond PottierCaubet 1993Tatton-Brown 2001, p. 146

19. 1884
    Ohnefalsch-Richter offered the Louvre the marble Artemis of Larnaca (found 1880); the Louvre did not buy because of the price, and it went to Vienna.

    LarnacaMax Ohnefalsch-RichterBernhard-Walcher et al. 1999, p. 44

20. 1884
    Edmond Pottier joined the department; he became the Louvre's main cataloguer of Cypriot pottery and a promoter of deposits in provincial museums (1893-1923).

    Edmond PottierDunn-Vaturi 2007, p. 74-75

21. 1884
    A member of the Mattei family of Larnaca gave a bronze statue leg (MNC 1190 = Br 69) which Merrillees notes belongs to the Tamassos Apollo whose head is at the British Museum. Cassimatis records Alfred Péretié as donor on behalf of his late father; the Louvre archives call it from Saida.

    TamassosAdrien Santi MatteiAlfred PéretiéMerrillees 2016Cassimatis 2001, p. 240

22. 1890
    At the Delestre and Hoffmann sale (Paris, 21-22 March 1890, catalogue by Froehner) the Louvre bought 39 Cypriot items (AM 187-225), later three more (AM 252-254), under 5 percent of the Cypriot lot, mostly pottery and terracottas with a strong Amathus component.

    Henri HoffmannMaurice DelestreWilhelm FroehnerHermary 1994

23. 1890
    At the Piot sale the Louvre bought lot 82 (AM 229). The Gréau sale of 1891, lot 457 (AM 274), also supplied a piece. Both later went on deposit to the Cannes museum.

    Eugène PiotJulien GréauDecaudin 1993

24. 1891
    Louis Auguste Dozon, consul at Larnaca 1878-81, gave his finds, among them AM 2793.

    Louis Auguste DozonCaubet 1993

25. 1892
    Sherds with Hathor heads (AM 393) bought from van Branteghem.

    Van BranteghemHermary 1994

26. 1896–1898
    Eugène Boysset, French consul at Larnaca 1891-1900, gave sculpture to Paris, including a Heracles and an Archaic female head; his Bronze Age pots went to Sèvres. Paul Perdrizet's 1896 mission for the French School at Athens sent further antiquities.

    Auguste-Emile BoyssetPaul PerdrizetCaubet 1993

27. 1896
    Marius Tano offered Cypriot antiquities to the Louvre, to be sent once the French authorities obtained a British export permit; Boysset reported on 6 May 1896 that such permits were never granted to private persons.

    Marius TanoMerrillees 2009

28. 1899–1900
    Tankerville Chamberlayne gave terracotta figurines from a Cypro-Phoenician sanctuary at Lapithos.

    LapithosTankerville James ChamberlayneCaubet 1993

29. 1902
    Paul-Louis Couchoud brought two Chalcolithic terracotta statuettes from the Maroni region (AM 1144, AM 1176).

    Paul-Louis CouchoudCaubet 1993

30. 1926–1928
    Pottier published the Louvre's Cypriot pottery in Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum, Louvre fascicules 4 and 5, which predate the Swedish classification.

    Edmond PottierCaubet 1993

31. 1928–1936
    René Dussaud was curator of the Oriental Antiquities department and encouraged French orientalists to work on Cyprus.

    René DussaudCaubet 1993

32. 1933–1934
    Claude Schaeffer's finds from Enkomi (including Mycenaean pottery AO 18591, tools and the banqueting-god bronze AM 2190-2191) and Vounous (AO 17512, 17513, 17517) were divided between the Cyprus Museum, the Louvre and Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

    Claude Frédéric-Armand SchaefferCaubet 1993

33. 1953–1955
    The Bérard-Deshayes mission's Ktima (Paphos) finds were the last division to reach a French museum before the law on sharing was repealed; the crates were damaged in transit and the vases restored in the Louvre stores by mission members. Since the repeal French mission finds stay in Cyprus.

    KtimaJean BérardJean DeshayesSuzanne BérardCaubet 1993

34. 1981–1992
    Series of catalogues: Les Antiquités de Chypre. Age du Bronze (Caubet, Karageorghis, Yon, 1981); Les Antiquités de Chypre. Sculptures (Hermary, 1989); Art antique de Chypre au musée du Louvre (Caubet, Hermary, Karageorghis, 1992); coroplastic catalogue (Caubet, Fourrier, Queyrel, 1998).

    Annie CaubetAntoine HermaryVassos KarageorghisMarguerite YonSabine FourrierCaubet 1993Hardy 2014

35. 1997–2007
    A unit set up under Chantal Orgogozo in 1997 (the récolement des dépôts antiques, part of the national audit commission C.R.D.O.A. created 1996) audited antiquities placed on deposit by the Louvre in French and foreign institutions, about 18,000 works, of which 164 Cypriot works had been examined by 2007. It also traced unrecorded Cypriot items in provincial collections. Ownership of purchased works deposited before 7 October 1910 passes to the host municipality after audit under the museum law of 4 January 2002.

    Chantal OrgogozoAnne-Elizabeth Dunn-VaturiDunn-Vaturi 2007, p. 71-78

• Silver bowl, Phoenician, 8th-7th century BCE, with Longpérier's notice no. 537 (cat. in Art antique de Chypre no. 82)

  AO 20135 = N 3454from Larnaca (Kition) per Merrillees; traditionally Idalionvia Félicien de Saulcy1851Merrillees 2016

• Silver bowl, Phoenician, 8th-7th century BCE

  AO 20134from unconfirmed (attributed to Idalion)1853Merrillees 2016

• Phoenician-inscribed statue base dedicated to Melqart

  AO 4826via Alban Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey1860–1865Caubet 1993

• Colossal limestone bearded king

  N 1085from Idalionvia Alban Emmanuel Guillaume-Rey1860–1865Tatton-Brown 2001, p. 144

• Stone vase, colossal (about 13 tonnes)

  AO 22897from Amathus acropolisvia Edmond Duthoit1865Caubet 1993

• Epitaph of Karyx, digraphic Greek and Cypriot syllabic

  AM 3341from Golgoivia Melchior de Vogüé1862Caubet 1993

• Lady of Tricomo, monumental goddess statue

  N 3497from Tricomovia Dominique Albert Edouard Tiburce Colonna-Ceccaldi1870Caubet 1993

• Bronze statue leg, part of the Tamassos Apollo

  MNC 1190 = Br 69from Tamassosvia Adrien Santi Mattei1884Merrillees 2016Cassimatis 2001, p. 240

• Artemis figures, limestone

  MNB 358, MNB 757from Idalion/Pylavia Robert Hamilton Lang1872Caubet 1993

• Mycenaean pottery group from Enkomi building 18

  AO 18591from Enkomivia Claude Frédéric-Armand Schaeffer1933Caubet 1993

• Bronze banqueting-god statuette from Enkomi building 18

  AM 2190-2191from Enkomivia Claude Frédéric-Armand Schaeffer1933Caubet 1993

• Early Bronze Age vessels from Vounous

  AO 17512, 17513, 17517from Vounousvia Claude Frédéric-Armand Schaeffer1933Caubet 1993

• Proto-White Slip gourd-shaped jug with deer head

  AM 187via Delestre & Hoffmann1890Hermary 1994

• Chalcolithic terracotta statuettes, Maroni region

  AM 1144, AM 1176from Maroni areavia Paul-Louis Couchoud1902Caubet 1993

• White Slip II milk bowl, Late Bronze Age

  N III 3380from Idalion (Dali)Louvre

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• Base Ring II Bilbil Juglet with White-Painted BandsObject
• Bichrome Tripod Jar with Double-Loop HandlesObject
• Black-topped Red Polished Bowl with Pierced Knob LugObject
• Black-topped Red Polished Tulip Bowl with Incised Spiral-armed Cross, Circles and ArcadesObject
• Handmade Horse and Rider with a High Painted CrestObject
• Handmade Horse and Rider, the Rider in a Flaring CapObject
• Head of a Terracotta Bull FigurineObject
• Hollow Mould-Made Female Votary of the Achna Type, Hands to the BreastsObject
• Horse and Rider Figurine with a Painted Star on the NeckObject
• Limestone Head of a Boy, probably from a Temple Boy StatuetteObject
• Limestone Head of a Votary with a WreathObject
• Mould-Made Figure of a Veiled Woman Holding a FlowerObject
• Mould-made Terracotta Head of a Woman with a Diadem and Painted FeaturesObject
• Red Polished Beak-Mouthed Jug with Concentric Circles and ChevronsObject
• Red Polished Beak-Spouted Juglet with Incised CirclesObject
• Red Polished Black-Topped Bottle with Stepped Incised BandsObject
• Red Polished Bottle with Linked Concentric CirclesObject
• Red Polished Bowl with Pierced Lug, under Burial CrustObject
• Red Polished Double-Necked Jug with Two Modelled BirdsObject
• Red Polished Ear-Lug JarObject
• Red Polished Juglet with Hatched TrianglesObject
• Red Polished Juglet with High-Swung HandleObject
• Red Polished One-Handled Jar with Concentric Circles, Deneia StyleObject
• Small Terracotta Head of a Man with Ringed EyesObject
• Terracotta Female Figure with Outstretched ArmsObject
• Terracotta Head of a Bearded Votary in a Pointed CapObject
• Upper Part of a Mould-Made Female Figure with an Egyptianizing WigObject
• Weathered Limestone Head of a Votary in a Tall Pointed CapObject
• White Painted II Jug with Cut-away Neck and Lattice PanelsObject
• Zoomorphic Askos with a Horned Head, probably Red PolishedObject