MILHE P. E. (EN)
Biographical Article
P. E. Milhe originally came from the department of Vaucluse. After having been granted the honorary title of Esquire, he practiced within the imperial maritime customs in Sivatow (present-day Shantou [汕頭]) in the province of Guangdong (廣東) [FC / PV / Session of Saturday, April 28, 1894]. Shantou was at once a customs post, a railway crossroads, and one of the main ports open to foreign trade. The port city turned to the West in February 1860, following the Treaty of Tianjin (天津), which was signed in June 1858 by France and England and ratified in 1860 by the Emperor. We know that Milhe resided in Tonkin in the years around 1893 and went to Hong Kong (香港), an English concession since 1842, whenceuntil 1895 he sent his collections.
The imperial maritime customs was a Chinese service managed by a foreign administration, emerging in 1854 after the revolt of the Taiping (太平) [1851-1864] and formally established as of 1861. Its first Inspector General was the English consul and interpreter Horatio Nelson Lay (1832-1898). In 1863, Lay was replaced by Sir Robert Hart (1835-1911), who represented the service until his death. "Any appointment in the service depends on the sole will of the Inspector General, Sir Robert Hart", who recruited a young staff of 18-to 23-year olds with good general knowledge and the ability to speak English (Cordier H., 1902, p.15). This profile allows us to sketch a portrait of Milhe, whose date of joining the institution is not known.
The Collection
P. E. Milhe sent works of art and ethnography collected in China to the Calvet Foundation, making several shipments through the Compagnie des Couriers Maritimes de Marseille between 1892 and 1895. The musée Requien d’Histoire naturelle in Avignon was also, according to its attributions, enriched with specimens of fauna and flora characteristic of China.
In 1893, Milhe sent a set of 213 Chinese objects of various kinds, not specified in the minutes, which represented "curiosities" from Hong Kong. Further ethnographic objects were sent to the Foundationthe following year. In 1894, the reports are more precise regarding the quality of the objects. These pieces evoked Chinese craftsmanship, miniatures and statuettes, the of unknown material. Thus, we can identify two pagodas with seven floors, adorned with pendants or even a small house in which two workers hulled rice. An "allegorical character employed in religious ceremonies" and five teawood figurines complete this set.
These collections were apparently brought together as opportunities arose, with the intention of eventual donation to the Calvet Foundation. These collections have a documentary, even "scientific" function that makes it possible to gain knowledge of this then still little-known region of the world. However, these objects remain difficult to identify in the inventory of the museum's collections.
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