11 Feb 2025 06 Jul 2025

Golden Thread

The art of dressing from north Africa to the far east

From the Maghreb to Japan, a fabulous journey through time and space, discovering the mysterious and fascinating origins of gold and its marriage with the textile arts.

The world's most precious and noble metal, an object of envy, a symbol of wealth and splendour, a sign of elegance and refinement... Discovered nearly 7,000 years ago, gold has never ceased to fascinate mankind. The ultimate material for all kinds of expertise, experimentation and tradition, it has been used since antiquity to make jewellery, ornaments and weapons. As early as the fifth millennium B.C., it was used to embellish the first luxury fabrics for men of power. Over the centuries that followed, skilled weavers and craftsmen Roman, Byzantine, Chinese, Persian and then Muslim used the most ingenious techniques to create veritable fabrics of art where silk or linen fibres were intertwined with gold threads and strips.

From the first ornaments sewn onto the garments of the deceased to the flamboyant dresses of contemporary Chinese artist Guo Pei that are found throughout the exhibition, from the gold-woven silks of the Indian and Indonesian worlds to the glittering kimonos of the Edo era, this exhibition reveals the age-old history of gold in the textile arts. In a dialogue combining scientific discoveries and artistic perspectives, it unveils the dazzling beauty, diversity, richness and the technical nature of the outfits of a vast region from the Maghreb to Japan, including the countries of the Middle East, India, and China.

  • Curators

    Hana Al Banna-Chidiac, former Head of the North African and Middle East Heritage Unit, musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac, Paris
    Magali An Berthon, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre for Textile Research, University of Copenhagen

    Scenography

    Agence Scénografià (Nicolas Groult, Valentina Dodi, Lucie Le Goff), Graphica (Igor Devernay), Hi Lighting Desin (Benoit Deseille)

  • Place:   Galerie Jardin
  • TimeSlots:  
    From Tuesday 11 February 2025 at Sunday 06 July 2025
  • Closed on monday
    Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday:  10:30 am-07:00 pm
    Thursday:  10:30 am-10:00 pm
  • Public:   All publics
  • Categorie : Exhibitions
  • Museum ticket entrance
    Full price:  14,00 €
    Reduce rate:  11,00 €

    Click here to see all rates