From fragrance burners to incense tables, the pieces allow visitors to explore the history of perfume in China and its most brilliant creations. (Photo/Xinhua)
The exhibition "Perfumes of China" opens on Friday at the Cernuschi Museum in Paris, inviting visitors to discover Chinese civilization through the exploration of the art of incense and perfume from the 3rd century BCE to the 19th century.
The exhibition, a co-operation between Cernuschi Museum and Shanghai Museum, proposes a journey through Chinese civilization through 110 art and archaeology objects, including ceramics, drawings, bronzes, and paintings.
From fragrance burners to incense tables, the exceptional presented pieces allow visitors to explore the history of perfume in China and its most brilliant creations, through a wide variety of materials and mediums ranging from lacquer to ceramics, from painting to calligraphy.
The exhibition also presents a collection of works by the greatest painters, such as Chen Hongshou and Qiu Ying, depicts elegant ladies, hermits and scholars and their relationship to incense, whether used for toiletry, meditative, or ritualistic purposes.
In addition, it proposes olfactory experiments with the perfumer-creator of Dior Parfums, Francois Demachy who has reinterpreted perfumes from ancient Chinese formulas dating from the great periods of China's history until the 19th century: Six dynasties, Tang, Song, Ming and Qing.
The exhibition will last until Aug. 26.
