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1993
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Caroline Gyss-Vermande, « De Pékin à Paris (1900-1904) : les tribulations d’une collection de peintures chinoises », Histoire de l'art, ID : 10.3406/hista.1993.2552
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From Peking to Paris, 1900-1904 : the tribulations of a collection of Chinese paintings. The French School of the Far East (Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient, E.F.E.O.) was founded on 20 January 1900 in Saigon. One of its principal missions was to build up a collection of intellectual tools (a library, a museum) for the archaeological and philological study of the Indonesian peninsula and of its nearby civilisations : China, India and Malaya. One of the earliest young students sent from France was Paul Pelliot, who, in 1900, was despatched to Peking where he collected a considerable number of books, manuscripts and art objects for the school. In 1902, the school moved to Hanoi, the collections being stored in a building of the Exhibition pavilion. This building was severely damaged during a cyclone on 7 June 1903, and, since the projected museum had not yet been realised, in 1904 the collections were sent to Paris, to the Louvre and to the National Library. Ten of the Chinese paintings from the Pelliot collection were exhibited to the public at the Louvre. The comments of the contemporary specialists are indicative of the difference between that time and our own with regards to our appreciation and understanding of Chinese painting. Furthermore, the common Chinese custom of copying paintings led to many errors in attribution and dating. Only one inventory register, apparently drawn up on two separate occasions, survives today. In 1922, the Chinese paintings from the Pelliot collection were transferred from the Louvre to the Musée Guimet. They are 125 scrolls, representing three incomplete series of liturgical paintings. These paintings are presently being restored. According to the author of the present article, some of the mould on them date from the cyclone damage of 1903. A new appraisal of these works is also under way. They have long been underestimated, and their interest for the study of Buddhist and Taoist ritual is considerable.