Although our eyes have become accustomed today to seeing an infinite range of colours on all kinds of objects, from advertising hoardings to cartoons, prints and photographs, it has not always been this way. In ceramics, as in the cinema, colour was the goal of a long and sometimes painstaking quest, as well as being the cause of unprecedented rivalry.
This exhibition tells the often turbulent story of the quest for colour on porcelain in China and France. It contrasts two crucial moments in the history of porcelain driven by the desire to extend the range of enamels. They occurred at the turn of the 18th century in China and during the 19th century in France, two periods during which the interactions between Europe and China, whether cultural or belligerent, were particularly intense.