The Musée Cernuschi (; 'Cernuschi Museum'), officially also the ('Asian Arts Museum of the City of Paris'), is an

Asian art The history of Asian art includes a vast range of arts from various cultures, regions, and religions across the continent of Asia. The major regions of Asia include Central, East, South, Southeast, and West Asia. Central Asian art primarily c ...

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

located at 7 avenue Vélasquez, near

Parc Monceau Parc Monceau () is a public park situated in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, at the junction of Boulevard de Courcelles, Rue de Prony and Rue Georges Berger. At the main entrance is a rotunda. The park covers an area of 8.2 hectares (20 ...

, in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Its Asian art collection is second in Paris only to that of the

Musée Guimet The Guimet Museum (full name in french: Musée national des arts asiatiques-Guimet; MNAAG; ) is an art museum located at 6, place d'Iéna in the XVIe arrondissement, 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. Literally translated into English, its ful ...

. The nearest

Paris Métro The Paris Métro (french: Métro de Paris ; short for Métropolitain ) is a rapid transit system in the Paris metropolitan area, France. A symbol of the Paris, city, it is known for its density within the capital's territorial limits, uniform ar ...

stops to the museum are Villiers or Monceau on Line 2.

History

The museum was founded in 1898 by Henri Cernuschi (1821–1896) in the mansion that used to be his home. It describes itself as the second-oldest

museum in France, and the fifth-oldest

Chinese art Chinese art is visual art that originated in or is practiced in China, Greater China or by Chinese artists. Art created by Chinese residing outside of China can also be considered a part of Chinese art when it is based in or draws on Chinese ...

museum in Europe. Following a major renovation project from 2001 to 2005, during which the museum was closed, its total exhibition space reached 3,200 m². Another renovation was conducted in 2019–2020. On , the Cernuschi Museum became part of the public institution

Paris Musées Paris Musées is a public institution that has incorporated in the same entity the 14 City of Paris Museums plus staff in charge of management, collection monitoring and production of exhibitions, events and editions, bringing together about 1000 e ...

, together with 13 other museums belonging to the City of Paris.

Collections

Over the years, the museum's collection has gradually grown from nearly 5,000 objects initially to about 15,000 as of 2021. Originally its collections were overwhelmingly of objects from China and Japan, which have been complemented more recently by artefacts from Korea and Vietnam. Some 900 objects are on permanent exhibition. Most prominent is the large

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

Meguro is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. The English translation of its Japanese self-designation is Meguro City. The ward was founded on March 15, 1947. Meguro is predominantly residential in character, but is also home to light industry, corporate ...

, a

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese bronze from the 18th century, from the original collection of Henri Cernuschi. Other permanent exhibits include: * a fine collection of archaic bronze pieces (15th to 3rd centuries BCE) *

Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

objects (206 BCE – 220 CE) * Funerary statues from the

Northern Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei (), Tuoba Wei (), Yuan Wei () and Later Wei (), was founded by the Tuoba (Tabgach) clan of the Xianbei. The first of the Northern and Southern dynasties#Northern dynasties, Northern dynasties ...

dynasty (386–534 CE) and

Sui dynasty The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and layi ...

(581–618 CE) *

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

statues (618–907 CE) * Ceramics from the

Tang Tang or TANG most often refers to: * Tang dynasty * Tang (drink mix) Tang or TANG may also refer to: Chinese states and dynasties * Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...

and

Song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

dynasties (6th through 13th centuries CE) * funerary masks in gilded bronze dating from the

Liao dynasty The Liao dynasty (; Khitan: ''Mos Jælud''; ), also known as the Khitan Empire (Khitan: ''Mos diau-d kitai huldʒi gur''), officially the Great Liao (), was an imperial dynasty of China that existed between 916 and 1125, ruled by the Yelü ...

(907–1125)

Notes

References

Cernuschi Museum official website (French, English, Chinese, Japanese)

Paris Musées official website
* Marie-Thérèse Bobot, ''The Chinese Collections of the Cernuschi Museum: General Guide'', Paris-Musées, 1993. . * Waldemar George, "Art in Paris: The Cernuschi Museum", The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, Vol. 50, No. 290 (May, 1927), pp. 283–284. * Vadime Elisseeff, ''Bronzes Archaïques Chinois Au Musée Cernuschi (Archaic Chinese Bronzes)'', L'Asiathèque, 1977.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Musee Cernuschi Asian art museums in France Asian-French culture

Cernuschi Henri Cernuschi (; it, Enrico Cernuschi ; 19 February 1821 – 11 May 1896) was a major French-Italian banker, economist and Asian art collector, who began public life as a politician in Italy in 1848–1850. Life Cernuschi was born of wealth ...

Buildings and structures in the 8th arrondissement of Paris Art museums established in 1898 1898 establishments in France Paris Musées

History

Collections

See also

Notes

References