What a Strange Object! Why is it this Shape?
It is in their own particular history that we find the explanation of certain objects. For instance, the atypical shape of this drum, hexagonal instead of round, is probably due to an incident that occurred while an old man was making it for a traveller: the pine slat used for its frame broke and the fault was concealed by making other angles at regular intervals. The result, astonishing for a Sami, was good enough for a foreigner! We can guess this origin when reading the journal kept by the Genevan Jean-Louis Pictet (1739-1781) when he travelled to the north of Russia, in 1768-1769. Intended for astronomical observations, this journey was also the opportunity for the young scientist to collect birds that he had stuffed for his compatriot, the naturalist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1740-1791). And it was in the latter’s home that this curious drum would finally be found, part of a set of objects related to distant populations that his son would later leave to the Academic Museum, the MEG’s ancestor.
Danielle Buyssens
