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
Although it started focused primarily on Asian (and Egyptian) religions and Sino-Japanese fine ceramics, …
…it expanded its remit both due to France’s colonial efforts and later directors’ interests and expertise.
The museum’s layout, lighting and display arrangements made for an inviting environment to gradually appreciate the relationships and differences between the cultures represented.
From ceramics …
… to glass
(watch a copy of a similar fish being created:
at the Corning Museum of Glass )
Tibetan turquoise..
..and a ladle made from a skull.
Exquisite carvings
And laughing birds
Every so often, we were reminded that this is a French museum, established in a building of a certain period.
Then serenity returned.
Here begins a whole display of items with dragons on them: they must have known Karen was coming
..although she can also be beguiled by artistic representation of plants..
There are dragons rampant on the cabinetry
… back to glass…
…and bowls of translucent stone..
Buddha’s Hand … a citrus fruit rendered in jade…
Japanese burial objects from the 3rd to 7th century
In 1991 the museum annexed an adjacent building as a Buddhist Pantheon
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)
Next Stop:Inside the Quai Branly