Here are some pictures from a very short 2 day visit to Paris. We stayed on the outskirts of town and really enjoyed walking down the market street, Levis which was near our hotel. We also went to what is supposed to be the world's largest flea market. We had a lot of fun and picked up a few paintings along the way.
![<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/11561957@N06/">failing_angel</a> posted a photo:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/11561957@N06/55630801644/" title="Chinese figure"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55630801644_70579b3ae8_m.jpg" width="180" height="240" alt="Chinese figure" /></a></p>
<p>Chinese figures, mid C19th<br />
Pages taken out of a made-for-export painting album <br />
Youqua <br />
China, Guangzhou or Hong Kong<br />
Chinese paper, silk, watercolour on pith paper<br />
<br />
From the 18th century, China began producing paintings for European clients. In the 19th century, Guangzhou and Hong Kong saw the development of watercolour painting on pith paper made from the Tetrapanax papyrifer plant, a local tree. The result is a paper with a velvety texture on which watercolours in a hybrid style are produced, blending Chinese themes (in this oase, richly dressed figures) with a Western-inspired style.<br />
<br />
<br />
This album was produced by Yo Chengxue, a painter active during the reign of the Daoguang emperor (1821-1860) who worked for the court and had access to the imperial painting collection. He drew inspiration from this collection to create the 12 leaves of this album. They feature a wide range of themes: landscapes, palace views, moral fables, and more. <br />
The album does not bear an inscription indicating that it was commissioned by the imperial court. it must have been produced for a wealthy aristocrat.*<br />
<br />
<br />
From 1839 onwards, after the first treaties were imposed on China, the country granted entry to European travellers, traders and missionaries. While there, the artistically inclined among them sketched and painted watercolours. Usually, however, they took home made-for-export painting albums as souvenirs. These were painted for Western clients by artists in Canton (Guangzhou) and Hong Kong, mandatory transit points for every traveller. <br />
A rare few purchased classical Chinese scroll paintings. Thiers befriended several of these travellers, such as the Abbé Huc (1813-1860) and Charles Marchal de Lunéville (1801-after 1865), some of whom would gift or sell him artworks.*<br />
<br />
<br />
A Passion for China: The Adolphe Thiers Collection<br />
May – August 2025<br />
<br />
The Department of Decorative Arts holds more than 600 Chinese works, most of which come from the collections of Adolphe Thiers and Adèle de Rothschild and from the royal collections. Among them, some veritable treasures are to be found. A number of these were highlighted by recent research among the collection of Adolphe Thiers, who was a journalist, historian, and a major political figure in the 19th century (as deputy, minister, president of the council and, ultimately, president of the French Republic).<br />
The exhibition aims to reveal these exceptional works to the general public, putting them in the historical, diplomatic and cultural context of their creation and their acquisition by Thiers for his collection. It explores Thiers’s little-known passion for China. The exhibition will present over 170 works dating mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries: scrolls, album pages, engravings, prints, porcelains, jades, lacquers, and precious objets d’art in ivory, bronze, or wood inlaid with gems and mother-of-pearl.<br />
The first part of the exhibition will present Adolphe Thiers, his particular vision of art, his collecting practices and his passion for the Renaissance. The second part, the heart of the exhibition, will present the full collection of Chinese art. Thiers, in view of publishing a work on Chinese art, concurrently collected books, documents and objets d’art related to the subject. The exhibition highlights the major themes of his collection: ancient and contemporary history, images of China (landscapes, architecture and dress), some staples of Chinese culture (language, literature and the literati), the ‘Three Teachings’ (Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism), Chinese porcelain (of which he was an expert of renown), and, finally, imperial art. The collection holds a number of masterpieces in this last area, including an exceptional scroll, the Qingming shanghe tu created for the Qianlong emperor.*<br />
<br />
<br />
Taken in Musée du Louvre<br />
<br />
The Louvre began as a fortress with thick defensive walls, built in 1190 during the reign of Philippe Auguste. It became a royal residence in 1364 and was modified over the centuries according to changing styles and royal preferences. The Grande Galerie was built between 1595 and 1610, during the reign of Henri IV.<br />
In 1791, during the French Revolution, it was decreed that the Louvre should become a museum of the arts. The Muséum Central des Arts was inaugurated in 1793, and thereafter the palace was increasingly given over to the museum collections and their display to the public. From 1981 to 1989, the Pyramid project focused on putting visitors at the heart of the museum and its collections. The Department of Islamic Art was inaugurated in 2012. The opening of the new rooms of the Department of Byzantine and Eastern Christian Art is scheduled for 2028.<br />
[*Musée du Louvre]</p>](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55630801644_70579b3ae8_s.jpg)
![<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/11561957@N06/">failing_angel</a> posted a photo:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/11561957@N06/55630720133/" title="hua niao"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55630720133_f85f4667ae_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="hua niao" /></a></p>
<p>Pages from a made-for-export album of paintings featuring bird and flower paintings, mid-C19th<br />
China<br />
Silk, paper, watercolour on pith paper<br />
<br />
From the 18th century, China began producing paintings for European clients. In the 19th century, Guangzhou and Hong Kong saw the development of watercolour painting on pith paper made from the Tetrapanax papyrifer plant, a local tree. The result is a paper with a velvety texture on which watercolours in a hybrid style are produced, blending Chinese themes (in this case, hua niao 'birds and flowers') with a Western-inspired style.<br />
<br />
<br />
A Passion for China: The Adolphe Thiers Collection<br />
May – August 2025<br />
<br />
The Department of Decorative Arts holds more than 600 Chinese works, most of which come from the collections of Adolphe Thiers and Adèle de Rothschild and from the royal collections. Among them, some veritable treasures are to be found. A number of these were highlighted by recent research among the collection of Adolphe Thiers, who was a journalist, historian, and a major political figure in the 19th century (as deputy, minister, president of the council and, ultimately, president of the French Republic).<br />
The exhibition aims to reveal these exceptional works to the general public, putting them in the historical, diplomatic and cultural context of their creation and their acquisition by Thiers for his collection. It explores Thiers’s little-known passion for China. The exhibition will present over 170 works dating mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries: scrolls, album pages, engravings, prints, porcelains, jades, lacquers, and precious objets d’art in ivory, bronze, or wood inlaid with gems and mother-of-pearl.<br />
The first part of the exhibition will present Adolphe Thiers, his particular vision of art, his collecting practices and his passion for the Renaissance. The second part, the heart of the exhibition, will present the full collection of Chinese art. Thiers, in view of publishing a work on Chinese art, concurrently collected books, documents and objets d’art related to the subject. The exhibition highlights the major themes of his collection: ancient and contemporary history, images of China (landscapes, architecture and dress), some staples of Chinese culture (language, literature and the literati), the ‘Three Teachings’ (Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism), Chinese porcelain (of which he was an expert of renown), and, finally, imperial art. The collection holds a number of masterpieces in this last area, including an exceptional scroll, the Qingming shanghe tu created for the Qianlong emperor.*<br />
<br />
<br />
Taken in Musée du Louvre<br />
<br />
The Louvre began as a fortress with thick defensive walls, built in 1190 during the reign of Philippe Auguste. It became a royal residence in 1364 and was modified over the centuries according to changing styles and royal preferences. The Grande Galerie was built between 1595 and 1610, during the reign of Henri IV.<br />
In 1791, during the French Revolution, it was decreed that the Louvre should become a museum of the arts. The Muséum Central des Arts was inaugurated in 1793, and thereafter the palace was increasingly given over to the museum collections and their display to the public. From 1981 to 1989, the Pyramid project focused on putting visitors at the heart of the museum and its collections. The Department of Islamic Art was inaugurated in 2012. The opening of the new rooms of the Department of Byzantine and Eastern Christian Art is scheduled for 2028.<br />
[*Musée du Louvre]</p>](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55630720133_f85f4667ae_s.jpg)
![<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/11561957@N06/">failing_angel</a> posted a photo:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/11561957@N06/55630792059/" title="Seven Gentlemen Cross the Mountain Passes'"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55630792059_80daf5cc33_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Seven Gentlemen Cross the Mountain Passes'" /></a></p>
<p>'Seven Gentlemen Cross the Mountain Passes', Qi Zi Du Guan Tu (七子度關圖), before C17th<br />
Ming dynasty<br />
China<br />
Ink and colour on silk<br />
<br />
This scroll depicts the journey of seven poets from the capital, Chang'an, to the Buddhist temple at Longmen during the Kaiyuan era (713-741), under the Tang dynasty. The poets are Confucians, Daoists and Buddhists.<br />
The underlying theme of the work is the complementary nature of the three teachings (sanjiao), Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism, which all influenced one another in China. One of these men, Zhang Yue, helped to compile the work entitled The Precious Pearls of the Three Teachings, on the initiative of Empress Wu Zetian (武則天) (690-705).*<br />
<br />
<br />
A Passion for China: The Adolphe Thiers Collection<br />
May – August 2025<br />
<br />
The Department of Decorative Arts holds more than 600 Chinese works, most of which come from the collections of Adolphe Thiers and Adèle de Rothschild and from the royal collections. Among them, some veritable treasures are to be found. A number of these were highlighted by recent research among the collection of Adolphe Thiers, who was a journalist, historian, and a major political figure in the 19th century (as deputy, minister, president of the council and, ultimately, president of the French Republic).<br />
The exhibition aims to reveal these exceptional works to the general public, putting them in the historical, diplomatic and cultural context of their creation and their acquisition by Thiers for his collection. It explores Thiers’s little-known passion for China. The exhibition will present over 170 works dating mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries: scrolls, album pages, engravings, prints, porcelains, jades, lacquers, and precious objets d’art in ivory, bronze, or wood inlaid with gems and mother-of-pearl.<br />
The first part of the exhibition will present Adolphe Thiers, his particular vision of art, his collecting practices and his passion for the Renaissance. The second part, the heart of the exhibition, will present the full collection of Chinese art. Thiers, in view of publishing a work on Chinese art, concurrently collected books, documents and objets d’art related to the subject. The exhibition highlights the major themes of his collection: ancient and contemporary history, images of China (landscapes, architecture and dress), some staples of Chinese culture (language, literature and the literati), the ‘Three Teachings’ (Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism), Chinese porcelain (of which he was an expert of renown), and, finally, imperial art. The collection holds a number of masterpieces in this last area, including an exceptional scroll, the Qingming shanghe tu created for the Qianlong emperor.*<br />
<br />
<br />
Taken in Musée du Louvre<br />
<br />
The Louvre began as a fortress with thick defensive walls, built in 1190 during the reign of Philippe Auguste. It became a royal residence in 1364 and was modified over the centuries according to changing styles and royal preferences. The Grande Galerie was built between 1595 and 1610, during the reign of Henri IV.<br />
In 1791, during the French Revolution, it was decreed that the Louvre should become a museum of the arts. The Muséum Central des Arts was inaugurated in 1793, and thereafter the palace was increasingly given over to the museum collections and their display to the public. From 1981 to 1989, the Pyramid project focused on putting visitors at the heart of the museum and its collections. The Department of Islamic Art was inaugurated in 2012. The opening of the new rooms of the Department of Byzantine and Eastern Christian Art is scheduled for 2028.<br />
[*Musée du Louvre]</p>](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55630792059_80daf5cc33_s.jpg)
![<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/11561957@N06/">failing_angel</a> posted a photo:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/11561957@N06/55630590526/" title="Chinese figure"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55630590526_db9d861f64_m.jpg" width="180" height="240" alt="Chinese figure" /></a></p>
<p>Chinese figures, mid C19th<br />
Pages taken out of a made-for-export painting album <br />
Youqua <br />
China, Guangzhou or Hong Kong<br />
Chinese paper, silk, watercolour on pith paper<br />
<br />
From the 18th century, China began producing paintings for European clients. In the 19th century, Guangzhou and Hong Kong saw the development of watercolour painting on pith paper made from the Tetrapanax papyrifer plant, a local tree. The result is a paper with a velvety texture on which watercolours in a hybrid style are produced, blending Chinese themes (in this oase, richly dressed figures) with a Western-inspired style.<br />
<br />
<br />
This album was produced by Yo Chengxue, a painter active during the reign of the Daoguang emperor (1821-1860) who worked for the court and had access to the imperial painting collection. He drew inspiration from this collection to create the 12 leaves of this album. They feature a wide range of themes: landscapes, palace views, moral fables, and more. <br />
The album does not bear an inscription indicating that it was commissioned by the imperial court. it must have been produced for a wealthy aristocrat.*<br />
<br />
<br />
From 1839 onwards, after the first treaties were imposed on China, the country granted entry to European travellers, traders and missionaries. While there, the artistically inclined among them sketched and painted watercolours. Usually, however, they took home made-for-export painting albums as souvenirs. These were painted for Western clients by artists in Canton (Guangzhou) and Hong Kong, mandatory transit points for every traveller. <br />
A rare few purchased classical Chinese scroll paintings. Thiers befriended several of these travellers, such as the Abbé Huc (1813-1860) and Charles Marchal de Lunéville (1801-after 1865), some of whom would gift or sell him artworks.*<br />
<br />
<br />
A Passion for China: The Adolphe Thiers Collection<br />
May – August 2025<br />
<br />
The Department of Decorative Arts holds more than 600 Chinese works, most of which come from the collections of Adolphe Thiers and Adèle de Rothschild and from the royal collections. Among them, some veritable treasures are to be found. A number of these were highlighted by recent research among the collection of Adolphe Thiers, who was a journalist, historian, and a major political figure in the 19th century (as deputy, minister, president of the council and, ultimately, president of the French Republic).<br />
The exhibition aims to reveal these exceptional works to the general public, putting them in the historical, diplomatic and cultural context of their creation and their acquisition by Thiers for his collection. It explores Thiers’s little-known passion for China. The exhibition will present over 170 works dating mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries: scrolls, album pages, engravings, prints, porcelains, jades, lacquers, and precious objets d’art in ivory, bronze, or wood inlaid with gems and mother-of-pearl.<br />
The first part of the exhibition will present Adolphe Thiers, his particular vision of art, his collecting practices and his passion for the Renaissance. The second part, the heart of the exhibition, will present the full collection of Chinese art. Thiers, in view of publishing a work on Chinese art, concurrently collected books, documents and objets d’art related to the subject. The exhibition highlights the major themes of his collection: ancient and contemporary history, images of China (landscapes, architecture and dress), some staples of Chinese culture (language, literature and the literati), the ‘Three Teachings’ (Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism), Chinese porcelain (of which he was an expert of renown), and, finally, imperial art. The collection holds a number of masterpieces in this last area, including an exceptional scroll, the Qingming shanghe tu created for the Qianlong emperor.*<br />
<br />
<br />
Taken in Musée du Louvre<br />
<br />
The Louvre began as a fortress with thick defensive walls, built in 1190 during the reign of Philippe Auguste. It became a royal residence in 1364 and was modified over the centuries according to changing styles and royal preferences. The Grande Galerie was built between 1595 and 1610, during the reign of Henri IV.<br />
In 1791, during the French Revolution, it was decreed that the Louvre should become a museum of the arts. The Muséum Central des Arts was inaugurated in 1793, and thereafter the palace was increasingly given over to the museum collections and their display to the public. From 1981 to 1989, the Pyramid project focused on putting visitors at the heart of the museum and its collections. The Department of Islamic Art was inaugurated in 2012. The opening of the new rooms of the Department of Byzantine and Eastern Christian Art is scheduled for 2028.<br />
[*Musée du Louvre]</p>](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55630590526_db9d861f64_s.jpg)
![<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/11561957@N06/">failing_angel</a> posted a photo:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/11561957@N06/55630792099/" title="Forbidden City in Beijing"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55630792099_b436bbd9e2_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Forbidden City in Beijing" /></a></p>
<p>Interpretative rendering of the Forbidden City in Beijing, 1850-53<br />
Charles Marchal de Lunéville<br />
China<br />
Watercolour on vellum paper<br />
<br />
<br />
From 1839 onwards, after the first treaties were imposed on China, the country granted entry to European travellers, traders and missionaries. While there, the artistically inclined among them sketched and painted watercolours. Usually, however, they took home made-for-export painting albums as souvenirs. These were painted for Western clients by artists in Canton (Guangzhou) and Hong Kong, mandatory transit points for every traveller. <br />
A rare few purchased classical Chinese scroll paintings. Thiers befriended several of these travellers, such as the Abbé Huc (1813-1860) and Charles Marchal de Lunéville (1801-after 1865), some of whom would gift or sell him artworks.*<br />
<br />
<br />
A Passion for China: The Adolphe Thiers Collection<br />
May – August 2025<br />
<br />
The Department of Decorative Arts holds more than 600 Chinese works, most of which come from the collections of Adolphe Thiers and Adèle de Rothschild and from the royal collections. Among them, some veritable treasures are to be found. A number of these were highlighted by recent research among the collection of Adolphe Thiers, who was a journalist, historian, and a major political figure in the 19th century (as deputy, minister, president of the council and, ultimately, president of the French Republic).<br />
The exhibition aims to reveal these exceptional works to the general public, putting them in the historical, diplomatic and cultural context of their creation and their acquisition by Thiers for his collection. It explores Thiers’s little-known passion for China. The exhibition will present over 170 works dating mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries: scrolls, album pages, engravings, prints, porcelains, jades, lacquers, and precious objets d’art in ivory, bronze, or wood inlaid with gems and mother-of-pearl.<br />
The first part of the exhibition will present Adolphe Thiers, his particular vision of art, his collecting practices and his passion for the Renaissance. The second part, the heart of the exhibition, will present the full collection of Chinese art. Thiers, in view of publishing a work on Chinese art, concurrently collected books, documents and objets d’art related to the subject. The exhibition highlights the major themes of his collection: ancient and contemporary history, images of China (landscapes, architecture and dress), some staples of Chinese culture (language, literature and the literati), the ‘Three Teachings’ (Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism), Chinese porcelain (of which he was an expert of renown), and, finally, imperial art. The collection holds a number of masterpieces in this last area, including an exceptional scroll, the Qingming shanghe tu created for the Qianlong emperor.*<br />
<br />
<br />
Taken in Musée du Louvre<br />
<br />
The Louvre began as a fortress with thick defensive walls, built in 1190 during the reign of Philippe Auguste. It became a royal residence in 1364 and was modified over the centuries according to changing styles and royal preferences. The Grande Galerie was built between 1595 and 1610, during the reign of Henri IV.<br />
In 1791, during the French Revolution, it was decreed that the Louvre should become a museum of the arts. The Muséum Central des Arts was inaugurated in 1793, and thereafter the palace was increasingly given over to the museum collections and their display to the public. From 1981 to 1989, the Pyramid project focused on putting visitors at the heart of the museum and its collections. The Department of Islamic Art was inaugurated in 2012. The opening of the new rooms of the Department of Byzantine and Eastern Christian Art is scheduled for 2028.<br />
[*Musée du Louvre]</p>](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55630792099_b436bbd9e2_s.jpg)
