Photo: Franz Mayer Museum

By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF

On Thursday, March 17, Mexico City’s Franz Mayer Museum opened a new exhibit of Chinese porcelain and decorative art that focuses on the creative trends of that country during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

The exhibition, composed of 189 works from the museum’s own collection and from pieces on loan from four private collections, addresses the cultural impact that these artistic expressions had in Europe and in the viceroyalty of New Spain.

The exhibit, titled “Treasures of China,” presents works produced between the last years of the 16th century and the first decades of the 20th century, a period of great impact for Chinese arts both in Europe and America, thanks to inter-oceanic trade routes.

Although China’s first contacts with Europe date back to the Hellenistic era (ca. 200 BC), it was not until the 13th century, from the romantic accounts of Marco Polo’s adventures in ancient Cathay, that Europeans began to give a special value to the treasures of the East, which by the 16th century already had a presence in Europe and America.

The exhibit will remain on display at the Franz Mayer Museum through June 26.

The Franz Mayer Museum is located at Avenida Hidalgo 34 in Mexico City’s Centro Histórico.

It is open Tuesday through Friday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. There is a nominal admission fee.