Museum Acquisitions: Carriès Mask, Elizabeth I Portrait, and I.M. Pei Archive
Three significant acquisitions by museums were recently revealed. The Musée d'Orsay in Paris has added an enamelled stoneware mask by Jean Carriès (1855-94), crafted circa 1890 and influenced by Japanese ceramics showcased at the 1878 Paris Exposition. This piece was gifted by Stuart Lochhead in honor of the museum's 40th anniversary. Meanwhile, the Art Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide has obtained a 16th-century portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, created around 1565 by an unidentified British School artist. This marks the first Tudor queen portrait to be included in an Australian public collection, funded by James and Diana Ramsay. Additionally, the MIT Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, received the archive of architect I.M. Pei, donated by Pei Cobb Freed, encompassing materials from 60 projects spanning 60 years.
Key facts
- Musée d'Orsay received a mask by Jean Carriès, made around 1890, gifted by Stuart Lochhead on the museum's 40th anniversary.
- Carriès was inspired by Japanese ceramics at the 1878 Paris Exposition and moved to Saint-Amand-en-Puisaye in 1888.
- Art Gallery of South Australia acquired a portrait of Queen Elizabeth I (c. 1565), the first of its kind in an Australian public collection.
- The Elizabeth I portrait was bought through a fund by James and Diana Ramsay, commemorating Diana's 100th birthday.
- MIT Museum received I.M. Pei's archive from Pei Cobb Freed, including 1,500 rolls of drawings and 50 models.
- Pei graduated from MIT in 1940; archive includes Louvre modernization drawings with a rendering by Paul Stevenson Oles.
- The Elizabeth I portrait includes a verse attributed to Elizabeth herself.
- The Carriès mask fuses French Gothic revival with Japanese ceramics.
Entities
Artists
- Jean Carriès
- I.M. Pei
- Paul Stevenson Oles
- Queen Elizabeth I
- King Henry VIII
Institutions
- Musée d'Orsay
- Studiolo
- Art Gallery of South Australia
- MIT Museum
- Pei Cobb Freed
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Locations
- Paris
- France
- Saint-Amand-en-Puisaye
- London
- United Kingdom
- Adelaide
- Australia
- Melbourne
- Cambridge
- Massachusetts
- United States