Travel, Collecting, and Museums of Asian Art in Nineteenth-Century Paris

At the core of this study are three major collectors: Enrico (Henri) Cernuschi, Emile Guimet, and Edmond de Goncourt, whose practices are analyzed to illuminate a larger history of transnational relations between modern Europe and Asia. The book takes an original approach that includes such overlooked issues as the impact of monetary histories and theories on European collections of Asian objects; the somatics of travel; collecting, writing, and display as polymorphous narratives of identity.