SÉMALLÉ Robert de (EN)

Biographical Article

Robert de Sémallé served as a second lieutenant during the campaign of 1870 (Sémallé, R., 1933, p. 7) and was appointed on January 7, 1873 as an attaché for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bern, then in Madrid and The Hague (Sémallé R., 1933, p. 7).

In November 1877, he passed the competition to practice as third secretary, a grade he obtained and exercised for the first three years in the office of the Marquis Gaston de Banneville (1818-1881) and his successor, William Waddington (1826-1894), until January 27, 1879 (Sémallé R., 1933, p. 7).

Robert de Sémallé was offered a post as second secretary in Beijing, a position he accepted on the advice of his former director, Albert Bourée, himself then a minister in Beijing (Sémallé R., 1933, p. 8). His appointment was recorded on February 1, 1880 (Sémallé R., 1933, p. 8).

While preparing his departure for Peking in July 1880, he acquired photographic equipment and learned about the development of silver gelatin-bromide plates, following the counsel of the photographer and professor Édouard Strebbing (18..-1915) (Sémallé R., 1933, p. 9).

He went to Beijing in October 1880 and worked there until 1884 as embassy secretary and chargé d'affaires at the Legation of France. His diplomatic mission gained importance during the Tonkin affairs in 1884 (BNF, DOSS FOL-LN1-232 (18735). Implicated in Admiral Fournier's negotiations during the failed evacuation of Tonkin, he was eventually exonerated (BNF, DOSS FOL-LN1-232 (18735); Francis Charmes, September 1884, p. 1).

Robert de Sémallé was also the honorary president for the carbonisation and distillation of fuels, administrator of the Loire mines, administrator of the Sociétés d'Angleur-Athus et des Produits chimiques purs (BNF, DOSS FOL-LN1-232 (18735), and a member of the Geographical Society (Anonymous, undated, Academie de Versailles). By decree of July 7, 1885, he was named chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (AN, LH//2498/27).

The Collection

During his four years in Beijing, Robert de Sémallé photographed the city and the flatlands, their inhabitants as well as his own colleagues and their families settled in the district of the French Legation. His photographic production thus offers a documentary look at life in this region in the late 19th century. He dedicated a book to his mission in China entitled Quatre ans à Pékin (Sémallé R., 1933).

This collection of photographs, produced or collected by Robert de Sémallé, consists of 8 albums with a total of 1419 prints and 439 collodion negatives. Divided into two lots, these two albums were sold respectively for €245,760 and €640,000 at an auction in 2019 that was organised by the company Tessier & Sarrou (Doridou-Heim A., June 27, 2019).

In December 2018, a set of 91 photographs and a 19th century bronze Indochinese dragon head were sold for €137,000.

Robert de Semallé also brought back a collection of objects from his stay in Beijing, which he passed on to his daughter, Adrienne de Semallé (1892-1976), and to his son-in-law, Louis Affre de Saint-Rome (1883- 1960). These objects were also part of this sale (Papon, C. and Foster A., ​​June 13, 2019).

While the location of this collection following these sales remains unknown, digitisations of the photographs are available for consultation at the Archives Diplomatiques in La Courneuve.