Nevers In The World: French Ceramics from the Sidney R. Knafel Collection
| Dates: | Sunday, March 16, 2025 - Sunday, June 1, 2025 |
| Hours: | 11:00 am |
| Ages: | Kids, Teens, Adults |
| In/Outdoor: | Indoor |
| Cost: | Free |
| Category: | Arts & Culture |
Nevers in the World presents a selection of artworks from the generous bequest of Sidney R.Knafel, who spent decades assembling a world-renowned collection of French ceramics.
These objects demonstrate how artistic innovation can flourish through cross-cultural exchange.
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a group of artisans in Nevers, France created extraordinary ceramic vessels using the faience technique.
Invented nearly a millennium earlier, faience describes a glaze for ceramics that includes tin.
In eighth-century Iraq, craftspeople discovered that adding tin to ceramic glaze produced an opaque, white surface suitable for colorful decoration.
As the method spread across Asia and Europe, Italians called it maiolica.
In France, it became known as faience, after the Italian city of Faenza.
In 1565, French aristocrat Henriette of Cleves married Italian politician Louis of Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers.
The couple brought artisans from Italian maiolica centers to Nevers, where they introduced a style of storytelling through images in addition to tin-glaze.
By 1600, European demand for Chinese porcelain spurred workshops in Nevers to attempt imitations in faience.
Nevers artisans quickly developed a distinctive style that reached its zenith in popularity under King of France Louis XIV (1638-1715), when it featured in his elaborate dinner parties at Versailles.
Today, these objects continue to tell stories about the people who made and used them.
Curated by Nicole Berlin, Associate Curator of Collections with Alicia Bruce, Friends of Art Curatorial Project Manager and Researcher, and Yuhua Ding, Kemper Curator of Collections and Academic Affairs.
This exhibition is supported by the Sandra Cohen Bakalar ‘55 Fund, the Judith Blough Wentz '57 Museum Programs Fund, and Wellesley College Friends of Art at the Davis.
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