A SILK YARN FROM CHINA TO AMBOISE

Exhibition included in the tour of the royal residence.
Every day from April 17 to November 16.

Never was fabric surrounded by more mystery and dreams than silk. For a long time the secrets of its manufacture were jealously guarded by its Chinese inventors. But the attraction of men and women for this precious fabric was such that a "silk road" opened towards the West, where its use spread from Antiquity.

The silk knew a singular craze in medieval Italy, before appearing in France at the end of the 15th century .. The successive kings of France and the court of France, established in Amboise in the Renaissance, became the main sponsors. The silk manufactories of Lyon and Tours benefited from this success and developed their own production.

Silk experienced a revival of interest in the eighteenth century when elites, marred by the stories of travelers, were enthusiastic for China and its thinkers. This dream of China gained all the modes of artistic expressions of the moment - silks, porcelain, lacquered furniture and theater.

The production of silk has since gone through the centuries to the present day thanks to Jean Roze silks still established near Tours, about thirty kilometers from Amboise. They retain an exceptional know-how that enrich each year with original creations.

On the Silk Road.
On the occasion of the celebration of the 50 years of diplomatic relations between France and China, the exhibition "A silk thread, from China to Amboise" presented at the Royal Castle of Amboise is a fitting reminder of the centuries-old fascination of the French for Chinese culture and the antiquity of their exchanges.
Some silks belonging to the Amboise castle collections are especially exhibited in the royal house and enriched with pieces kindly lent by the Tours Museum of Fine Arts and the "Tours Cité de la Soie" association. All are thus staged to illustrate successively the stages of the Silk Road, from China to Amboise. Cartels in particular proposed in French and Chinese.

The exhibition is accessible every day, from 17 April to 16 November 2014 and proposed in the visit course in addition to the permanent collections.
This initiative of the Saint-Louis Foundation for Historical Heritage, supported by the Association "Tours, City of Silk".