OBJECT history
The Geographical Magazine of
July 1875 contains the following note in its
datebook concerning the French Geographical
Society:
M. Malte-Brun announced that the Prize Commission
to the Abbé David, for his travels in Mongolia,
and to Dr. Schweinfurth of Riga; and silver medals
to the Abbé Petitot, for the information collected
Messrs. Marche and Compiègne, for their exploration
110
of the Society has awarded Gold Medals
by him whilst on the Mackenzie River, and to
of the Ogowe.1
A Pahouine Goddess
Goes to Europe
By Jonathan Fogel
While each of these no doubt is its own fascinating
story, what concerns us here is the Ogooué
expedition of 1874 led by French naturalists and
explorers Antoine-Alfred Marche (1844–1898)
and Louis-Alphonse-Henri-Victor du
Pont, Marquis de Compiègne (1846–
1877), which was one of the fi rst European
parties2 to penetrate the territory
that was to produce so many remarkable
artworks that continue to defi ne
Western perceptions and appreciation
of African art (fi gs. 2 and 3).
Through trade in salt, dyewood, ivory,
rubber, and—primarily—slaves, the
Ogooué River delta was known to Europeans
of the eighteenth century and
earlier, but it was believed to be individual
rivers reaching the sea near Cape
Lopez rather than the branching delta
of a major artery. The fi rst Western exploration
of the Ogooué is generally attributed
to the French naval offi cers Lt. Paul Augustin
Serval and Dr. Griffon du Bellay, who ascended
the northernmost delta branch and reached
Lake Onangue in 1862,3 though they may have
been indirectly informed by American missionaries
Reverends William Walker and Ira Preston,
who apparently traveled approximately fi fty
FIG. 2 (above left): Alfred Antoine
Marche, c. 1875.
Photo: Alexandre Quinet, Paris.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica – BnF.
FIG. 3 (left): Alphonse Louis
Henri Victor du Pont, Marquis de
Compiègne, 1868.
Photo: Alary & Geiser, Algiers.
Bibliothqaue nationale de France, Gallica – BnF.
FIG. 1 (right):
Female fi gure.
Fang; Gabon.
Wood. H: 29 cm.
Collected by Alfred Marche
and Victor du Pont, Marquis de
Compiègne, Ogooué River, 1874.
Ex E. Pilastre, Le Havre; Orle
Collection, France; Charles Ratton,
Paris; Dr. Gaston Durville, Paris.
Photo courtesy of Sotheby’s.