Museums - Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Langres

In 1861, this museum’s records show the acquisition of a group of objects collected in 1853 by a Navy lieutenant Gauvain, described as “a collection of arms and utilitarian objects from savage peoples around the globe.” These form the core of the museum’s Oceanic holdings. Alongside these seventy-nine mostly Melanesian objects are African and Siberian pieces, which have been neither properly inventoried nor studied. A New Caledonian engraved bamboo is of particular interest among the pieces. The major interest in the museum’s holdings lies in the very early collection dates of many of the objects.