Musee Gumet
This museum, built in the 1890’s on the hill leading to the Trocadero, features Chinese, Japanese, Cambodian, and Indian masterpieces. Few specimens are more sophisticated than the stone pediment, dated A.D. 980, from the temple of Banteay Srei, one of the best of the Angkor group. Some of the finest Chinese creations anywhere are also on display—a 12th-century B.C. ritual vase in the shape of an elephant; courtly Han terra-cotta vase figures; and an early-18th-century lacquer chest depicting a man looking out on an ornate landscape as a rider on horseback approaches. A 12-panel coromandel screen shows a spectacle of clouds floating over green pines and white cranes on a black background. Of the Japanese works, the 17th-century Edo screens, with their gold grounds and almost abstract patterns of hanging kimonos, are well worth seeing. 6 Place d’lena; 33-1/47-23-61-55.
Photo courtesy: Paris-pictures
