In the heart of the Left Bank, the Cluny Museum was founded in 1843 and is set in two buildings; an old Roman baths dating from the 1st-3rd Century and the Hôtel des abbés de Cluny dating from the end of the 15th Century.

This new exhibition shows the evolution of the technique of golden glaze, and the creativity that surrounded it.

The technique was first used on glass in the Orient, developed to ceramics around the end of the 8th Century and reached its peak in the 15th Century in Muslim and Christian Spain. A pre-cooked glaze is painted over with a mix of copper and silver oxides, then baked in a vacuum oven where the elements mix and give the metallic appearance to the glaze.

125 works are presented, including plates, vases and tiles. Two thirds of the exhibits come from the Louvre and the Cluny Museum, with the rest being loaned essentially by the National Ceramics Museum and Berlin's Islamic Art Museum.
Hotel Paris
Vase à ailes : armes des Salvi de Sienne, des Nori ou des Gentili de Florence ? Manisès, entre 1465 et 1469. Bleu de cobalt et lustre métallique monochrome sur glaçure blanche. Paris, musée national du Moyen Âge ©RMN/Franck Raux

Here's all the essential information for the Reflets d'or exhibition at the Cluny Museum in Paris

When: 9th April - 1st September 2008
Where: Musée national du Moyen Âge - Thermes et hôtel de Cluny, 6 place Paul Painlevé, Paris 5th arrondissement. Métro Cluny-La Sorbonne 9 (line 10). Bus n°s 21, 27, 38, 63, 85, 86, 87
Opening hours: every day except Tuesdays from 9.15am-5.45pm (last ticket at 5.15pm). Closed 1st May
Price of admission: the museum is free until 30th June!
Official site: here


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