Travels with Dick and Karen

Paris

Part 10: Inside
Musée National des Arts Asiatiques Guimet

 

The name says it all.

Established in 1879 by Émile Étienne Guimet as a private collection in Lyon, then transferred to Paris in 1885. In 1927 it was connected with the state Museum system.

Guimet

 

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Although it started focused primarily on Asian (and Egyptian) religions and Sino-Japanese fine ceramics, ...  guimet
...it expanded its remit both due to France's colonial efforts and later directors' interests and expertise.  guimet
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The museum's layout, lighting and display arrangements made for an inviting environment to gradually appreciate the relationships and differences between the cultures represented.  guimet
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From ceramics ...  guimet
... to glass  guimet

(watch a copy of a similar fish being created:
at the Corning Museum of Glass )

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Tibetan turquoise..  guimet
..and a ladle made from a skull.  guimet
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Exquisite carvings   guimet
And laughing birds guimet
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Every so often, we were reminded that this is a French museum, established in a building of a certain period.  guimet
Then serenity returned.  guimet
Here begins a whole display of items with dragons on them: they must have known Karen was coming guimet
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..although she can also be beguiled by artistic representation of plants..  guimet
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There are dragons rampant on the cabinetry  guimet
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... back to glass...  guimet
...and bowls of translucent stone..  guimet
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Buddha's Hand ... a citrus fruit rendered in jade...  guimet
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Japanese burial objects from the 3rd to 7th century  guimet
In 1991 the museum annexed an adjacent building as a Buddhist Pantheon  guimet
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Tales from the "Floating World" in a variety of media 

Much more can be gleaned from the Museum's English-language website: http://www.guimet.fr/en/

(and, as mentioned on our "neighborhood" page, the Guimet's modest restaurant was the best of our samplings of museums' fare)

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Next Stop: Inside the Quai Branly

The Neighborhood Along the Seine
North Loop South to NE Boise Vincennes & B. Boulogne Versailles
Inside the Larger Museums: Louvre Arts Décoratifs Orsay Guimet (Asian art) Quai Branly

Back to Main Travel Page

 


all text and images copyright Karen and Dick Seymour 2012,
and may not be reproduced without written permission

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