Pair of short gloves, 19th c.

Pair of short gloves, 19th century, Sardinia. F-Paris, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, MNHN 1221 (MS Inventory 56).

Sea silk, plain right knit.

Original label: “Gants faits en Sardaigne avec le ‘byssus’ filé de Pinna nobilis L. M. Bonafoux 1847″

 In the museum catalogues we find two Pinna nobilis L. from Sardinia listed (MNHN-IM-2014-10867) and (MNHN-IM 2014-18868), both marked Collection M. Bonafoux 1847. It can be assumed that these gloves also belonged to this collection.

The French National Museum of Natural History is a child of the Revolution. The decree of 10 June 1793 created the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, the result of the merger of the Jardin du Roi and the Cabinet d’histoire naturelle. The Cabinet du Roi, as it was also called, housed mainly plant and mineralogical collections.

On the other hand, we know that Giuseppe Basso-Arnoux from Sardinia was in contact with Louis Joubin (1861-1935), who was head of the malacological department of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle from 1917. Could he have been the supplier of these two objects?