Ceramics museum

A ceramics museum is a museum wholly or largely devoted to ceramics, usually ceramic art. Its collections may also include glass and enamel, but typically concentrate on pottery, including porcelain. Most national collections are in a more general museum covering all of the arts, or just the decorative arts. However, there are a number of specialized ceramics museums, with some focusing on the ceramics of just one country, region or manufacturer. Others have international collections, which may be centered on ceramics from Europe or East Asia or have a more global emphasis.

Outstanding major ceramics collections in general museums include The Palace Museum, Beijing, with 340,000 pieces,^[1] and the National Palace Museum in Taipei city, Taiwan (25,000 pieces);^[2] both are mostly derived from the Chinese Imperial collection, and are almost entirely of pieces from China. In London, the Victoria and Albert Museum (over 75,000 pieces, mostly after 1400 CE) and British Museum (mostly before 1400 CE) have very strong international collections. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and Freer Gallery of Art in Washington DC (12,000, all East Asian^[3]) have perhaps the best of the many fine collections in the large city museums of the United States. The Corning Museum of Glass, in Corning, New York, has more than 45,000 glass objects.

Many of the historic ceramics manufacturers have museums at or very near their factories, sometimes owned by the company, sometimes independent institutions. These usually mainly or entirely contain their own wares. Some of these are large and significant. Among the more important ones, with large collections, covered in the articles on the concern, are: Meissen porcelain,^[4] Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory, Doccia porcelain, Royal Worcester,^[5] Wedgwood (now independent),^[6] Royal Crown Derby and Herend Porcelain.

Some specialist ceramics museums are (number of pieces are approximate):

Australia

National Museum of Australian Pottery, Holbrook, New South Wales – Australian domestic pottery, 1500 pieces^[7]

Belgium

Musée de la Céramique, Andenne, Wallonia – tells you all about the famous ceramic from the city of Andenne^[8]

Brazil

Museu A CASA, São Paulo, São Paulo.
Oficina de Cerâmica Francisco Brennand, Recife, Pernambuco. 2000 pieces
Museu Udo Knoff de Azulejaria e Cerâmica, Salvador, Bahia.^[9] 1200 pieces

Canada

Gardiner Museum, Toronto, with 3,000 pieces.^[10]
Medalta in the Historic Clay District, Medicine Hat, Alberta, 53,000.^[11]

China

FLICAM, near Xi'an is a museum for international contemporary ceramics
Liuwan Museum of Ancient Painted Pottery, 38,000 Chinese archaeological finds
Mumingtang Ancient Porcelain Museum, Beijing^[12]
Sihai Teapot Museum, a museum dedicated to teapots in Shanghai. Founded by Xu Sihai in 1992, the Sihai Teapot Museum is also the first private museum established in modern Shanghai.^[13]
The Terracotta Army are on display where they were discovered near Xi'an
Yixing Ceramics Museum, 30,000 pieces, mainly from the Yixing area.^[14]

Czech Republic

Museum of Czech Porcelain, Prague

Denmark

CLAY Keramikmuseum Danmark, Grimmerhus, Kongebrovej 42, DK-5500 Middelfart. Website: CLAY Keramikmuseum Danmark, Kongebrovej 42, 5500 Middelfart.

France^[15]

Sèvres - Cité de la céramique, 50,000 pieces, 5,000 of Sèvres porcelain and contemporary ceramics
Musée de la Ceramique, Rouen, 5,000 pieces, 900 displayed, mostly local faience.^[16]
Musée national de la porcelaine Adrien-Dubouché, Limoges, 18,000 pieces, mostly Limoges porcelain also rare pieces by Böttger^[17]^[18]
The extensive archaeological excavations at La Graufesenque, one of the major production centres of Ancient Roman pottery, are open to the public with a museum on the potteries.
Musée Départemental de la Céramique, Lezoux.
Musée de la Céramique de Desvres, Desvres.

Germany

Waechtersbach ceramics in Brachttal, Hesse
Zwinger Museum - the Porzellansammlung, or Porcelain Collection, at the Zwinger Museum in Dresden^[19]^[20]^[21]^[22]
Hetjens-Museum or Deutsches Keramik-Museum in Düsseldorf, 15,000 pieces^[23]
Terra-Sigillata-Museum Rheinzabern, Rheinzabern, for Ancient Roman terra sigillata ware made near the town

Iran

The Glassware and Ceramic Museum of Iran, Tehran^[24]

Italy

Museo della Ceramica, in the Picture Gallery, Savona,^[25]
Museo della Ceramica Giuseppe Gianetti, in Saronno,^[26]
Museo delle porcellane, in the Boboli Gardens, Florence
International Museum of Ceramics, in Faenza,^[27]
Antiquarium Turritano
Montelupo Museum of Tuscan Ceramics, Montelupo Fiorentino

Japan

claims to have over 500 ceramics museums, public and private, including ones at Ibaraki, Bizen, Kyoto, Arita (Kyushu Ceramic Museum), and Tokyo.^[28] The Arita Porcelain Park is perhaps the world's only theme park based on ceramics.
NGK Museum, specializing in porcelain insulators

South Korea

Clayarch Gimhae Museum,^[29] Gimhae
Goryeo Celadon Museum, formerly known also as the Gangjin Celadon Museum, Gangjin County
Gyeonggi Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art (GMoCCA) formerly known as Icheon World Ceramic Center, ^[30] Icheon
Gyeonggi Museum of Ceramic Design^[31] (GMoCD), Yeoju
Gyeonggi Ceramic Museum^[32] Gwangju
Haegang Ceramics Museum, Icheon
Sechang Artistic Ceramic Institute,^[33] Icheon
Seokbong Ceramic Museum, Sokcho

The Netherlands

Princessehof Ceramics Museum, Leeuwarden,^[34]
Ceramics Museum Tienschuur, Tegelen – tells about the renowned ceramics tradition in the Tegelen region, but also displays an extensive collection of contemporary ceramics by Dutch and international ceramists.^[35]

Portugal

Museu de Cerâmica, Caldas da Rainha, Portuguese and other ceramics,
Museu de Cerâmica de Sacavém, Sacavém

Russia

State Ceramics Museum, Kuskovo Palace, Moscow, 30,000 pieces, Russian, French and other ceramics from the Sheremetev collection,^[36]
The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg - includes the Museum of The Imperial Porcelain Factory and the famous Frog service made by Josiah Wedgwood for Catherine the Great.^[37]^[38]
Pottery Museum, Skopin, Ryazan Oblast, Skopin pottery

Spain.

Museu de Ceràmica, in the Museu de les Arts Aplicades, Barcelona.
Museo Nacional de Cerámica y de las Artes Suntuarias González Martí, Valencia, with over 5,000 pieces, mostly produced in the region.^[39]