Eugène Boban

Eugène Boban
Eugène Boban at the 1867 Paris Exposition
Born	André Eugène Boban-Duvergé 1834
Died	1908 (aged 73–74)
Residence	Mexico City, Paris, New York City
Occupation	antiquarian
Known for	crystal skulls

Eugène Boban or Boban-Duvergé (1834–1908) was a French antiquarian. He was the official archaeologist of the court of Maximillian I of Mexico, and a member of the French Scientific Commission in Mexico. At one time, he held then sold a number of crystal skulls, one which is now in the Musée du Quai Branly and another in the British Museum.^[1]

Career

Eugène Boban came to Mexico as a teenager, and became fluent in both Spanish and Nahuatl. He headed an expedition commissioned by Napoleon III to collect Mexican art and artifacts, later exhibited at the Trocadéro Museum in connection with the Exposition Universelle (1867). In 1885 he had published a poster, Cuadro arqueológico y etnográfico de la republica mexicana.^[2] In July 1886, he moved his business to New York City. Two sale catalogues of his collection, catalogued by Ed. Frossard, were published in New York in 1887.^[3] In 1891, he organized and published the Aubin-Goupil Collection of manuscripts, bought in 1889 by Eugène Goupil and now in the Bibliothèque Nationale.

Ethnological objects from his collection were sold in Paris, 1908.^[4]

Questions of authenticity

A crystal skull originally sold by Boban, now in the British Museum, has been demonstrated to be a modern fake.^[5]

Published works

Boban's published works include:

• Eugéne Boban Antiquités mexicaines Paris, E. Leroux, 1875
• Bibliographie palèoethnologique 1881
• Cuadro arqueológico y etnográfico de la republica mexicana Mexico, Imp. de Muriga, 1885
• E. Boban Documents pour servir à histoire du Mexique Paris, E. Leroux, 1891
• Histoire de la nation Mexicaine 1893

Notes

References