In accordance with the announcement by the provincial government, the Gardiner Museum has closed temporarily. The health and safety of our visitors, staff, and the wider community remains our top priority. We'll continue to provide you with engaging digital content to keep us connected while the galleries are closed.
During our temporary closure, we're posting exhibitions and selections from our collection online. Discover Inuit ceramics, Chinese and Japanese porcelain, pottery from the Ancient Americas, and more!
On Thursday April 29 at 1 pm, join us for a free online lecture with Professor Alison McQueen, who will discuss the significant contributions of women working at Sèvres in the first century of its history. The presentation will feature works from leading international porcelain collections and bring attention to the often-overlooked roles of women retouching glaze, laying down prints, and burnishing. Register now!
Every object in our permanent collection can be accessed through our eMuseum portal. Learn about individual collecting areas, like Italian Maiolica or Modern and Contemporary Ceramics, or search the full collection by keyword. You'll be amazed by what you discover!
With the Museum closed temporarily, we need your support to continue to offer innovative and engaging exhibitions, programs, and community projects online, as well as plan for the future. Please consider making a donation to help us build community with clay.
This focus exhibition documents the rise of the faience industry in 17th and 18th-century France. Appreciated at all levels of society, faience (tin-glaze earthenware) provided a less costly, yet still highly refined and elegant alternative to porcelain.
Featuring approximately 40 objects for everyday use and ornamental wares, this exhibition surveys the production of the foremost faience centres, including Nevers, Rouen, Marseille, Moustiers and Strasbourg. The selection will offer insights into the social life and customs of the time, while reflecting the assimilation of technological advances and aesthetic influences that converged into France; from the initial introduction of the medium by Italian potters, to the diffusion of stylistic models from the Netherlands and the impact of cultural contacts with Asia.
The pieces featured in this exhibition were recently donated to the Gardiner Museum by Pierre Karch and Mariel O’Neill-Karch, and now constitute one of the rare collections of French faience in a public institution in North America.