Transformed European Porcelain Gallery Tells Stories of Excess, Intrigue,
and Stolen Secrets

New gallery to be unveiled during Culture Days on September 26 & 27

Toronto, ON September 1, 2015—For the first time in thirty years, the Gardiner Museum is unveiling a major transformation of its European Porcelain Gallery. The museum’s world-renowned collection will come to life though stories of intrigue, excess, secret formulas, and sabotage.

Visitors will journey through the remarkable history of porcelain—considered to be the technical marvel of its age—and be introduced to some of its most memorable characters, including Augustus the Strong, the “King of Porcelain”, who offered 780 Saxon soldiers to Frederick Wilhelm of Prussia in exchange for 150 coveted pieces of porcelain; and Madame de Pompadour, who was rumoured to have planted a winter garden of porcelain flowers to amuse her lover, Louis XV of France.

“The history of porcelain is about beauty, luxury, and power—things that are as much a part of contemporary life as they were in the eighteenth century, in many ways even more so,” says Kelvin Browne, Executive Director and CEO of the Gardiner. “This gallery is part of how the Gardiner Museum is ensuring that its collections stay relevant and fascinating to a wide public.”

A highlight of the new gallery will be a sumptuous recreation of a late eighteenth-century dessert table designed by Acting Chief Curator Meredith Chilton and world-renowned culinary historian Ivan Day. It features a temple made of sugar, rare Sèvres porcelain sculptures, and a lavish period dessert served on the museum’s prized Derby botanical dessert service. Day’s recreations have appeared at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of London, and the J. Paul Getty Museum, among others.

“This renovation has utterly transformed the gallery,” says Chilton. “Visitors will be able to experience porcelain in a whole new way. Nowhere else in the country can you see so much European porcelain of this caliber on display. You’ll find treasures such as the Canada Bowl, which shows the earliest views of Canada on porcelain, and curiosities such as a drinking vessel in the shape of a hound’s head. The dessert table alone distinguishes the gallery as a major attraction.”

Over the past three decades, George and Helen Gardiner’s European porcelain collection has been enriched by gifts from private collectors and acquisitions, many of which have never been seen before by the public. After the transformation, some 300 new objects will be on display, including a full-scale vignette by Isabelle de Borchgrave, the Belgian artist known internationally for creating historical costumes in paper.

The gallery ends with a new section about marks, materials, provenance, and the fascinating details that separate an original from a forgery.

Gallery renovation design by Perna Siegrist Design.

The transformation of the Gardiner Museum’s European Porcelain Gallery will be revealed to the public during Culture Days on Saturday, September 26 and Sunday, September 27, when the Museum will offer free admission and guided tours. A musical performance on Saturday at 1:30pm by Talisker players will evoke the atmosphere of the era, and on Sunday, families are invited to take part in a hands-on tile painting workshop.

ABOUT THE GARDINER MUSEUM
Located in the heart of Toronto at 111 Queen’s Park Crescent, the Gardiner Museum is Canada’s only ceramics museum, and one of the world’s great specialty museums. The Gardiner is committed to making a contribution to the medium of ceramics, as well as the community it serves, and is an inviting destination that inspires and connects people, art and ideas through clay. The Gardiner’s permanent collection comprises several extraordinary collections from sophisticated, dedicated collectors, making it one of the most significant centres of ceramics in North America. The breadth of the Museum’s holdings include pottery from the Ancient Americas, rare examples of Meissen, Du Paquier and Chelsea porcelain, Chinese blue and white porcelain, Japanese and Japanese-inspired porcelain, to contemporary ceramics—including an exceptional donation from contemporary ceramics collector, Raphael Yu. For more information, details on exhibitions, events, workshops, clay classes, and more, please visit: livetest.gardinermuseum.com.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Rachel Weiner
Communications and Volunteer Coordinator
Gardiner Museum
[email protected]
416.408.5062