The Musée d'Ennery is a museum of art located in the XVIe arrondissement

XVIe arrondissement

The 16th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, the capital city of France...

 at 59, avenue Foch, Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. It is open Thursday and Sunday afternoons; entrance is free. The nearest métro station is Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo (Paris Metro)

Victor Hugo is a station on Paris Métro Line 2. It is named after the author Victor Hugo.When first opened in 1900 as part of line 2 Nord, the platforms were built on the tight bend between Avenue Victor Hugo and Avenue Bugeaud. However, when new rolling stocks were introduced in 1931, the curve of...

.

The museum has grown from a private collection first begun in the second half of the 19th century by Clémence d'Ennery, wife of playwright Adolphe Philippe d'Ennery (1811–1899). In 1875 she built today's mansion in the Second Empire

Second French Empire

The Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...

 style, and in 1892 she began to transition it to a public museum with the help of Georges Clemenceau

Georges Clemenceau

Georges Benjamin Clemenceau was a French statesman, physician and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909, and again from 1917 to 1920. For nearly the final year of World War I he led France, and was one of the major voices behind the Treaty of Versailles at the...

 and Emile Deshayes, curator of the Guimet Museum

Guimet Museum

The Guimet Museum is a museum of Asian art located at 6, place d'Iéna in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France...

. It was inaugurated as a public museum in 1908.

The museum contains nearly 7000 objects purchased from the antique shops Bing, Burty, and Sichel, as well as Au Bon Marché and small boutiques, illustrating daily life in China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 and Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 from the 12th to 19th centuries. They are exhibited in large wooden cabinets inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and include Kyoto

Kyoto

is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...

 ceramics, Namban Art

Namban art

refers to Japanese art of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries influenced by contact with the or 'Southern barbarians', traders and missionaries from Portugal and Spain. The term also refers to paintings Europeans brought to Japan.-History:...

 resulting from contacts between the Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese and the Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 1543-1640, over 300 netsuke

Netsuke

Netsuke are miniature sculptures that were invented in 17th-century Japan to serve a practical function...

 from the Tokugawa Period (1603–1837), porcelain of various East India companies

East India Company

The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

, dolls and figurines, carvings of semi-precious stones, ivories

Ivory

Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...

 and bronzes, furniture, lacquer

Lacquer

In a general sense, lacquer is a somewhat imprecise term for a clear or coloured varnish that dries by solvent evaporation and often a curing process as well that produces a hard, durable finish, in any sheen level from ultra matte to high gloss and that can be further polished as required...

work, with many fine carvings of animal and human forms.