GALERIE
JEAN-CHRISTOPHE CHARBONNIER

Founded in 2008, Galerie Jean-Christophe Charbonnier is specialized in the Art of Japan with a particular focus on arms and amours.

The selection of objects on display, predominantly pieces of exception, has contributed to the international recognition of the gallery both by private collectors and institutions in France and abroad.

Indeed, over the past ten years, the gallery has initiated some of the most prestigious museum acquisitions of Japanese armour.

Amongst the most significant, in 2013, the spectacular and highly publicized helmet that entered the Louvre Abu Dhabi collections; and the purchase, in 2016, of an armour from the Matsudaira clan by Guimet—the French National Museum of Asian Art, listed as an artwork of significant patrimonial interest. So far over fifteen institutions have exhibited or acquired pieces from the gallery.

Initially established at rue de Verneuil in the 7th arrondissement in Paris, the gallery opened, in November 2018, a new exhibition space at the heart of the capital, on the île Saint-Louis. Designed to offer visitors a unique perspective on its artwork, the new venue intends to schedule several thematic exhibitions a year, inviting the public to discover the diverse and fascinating beauty of Japanese objects through its selection of outstanding works.

Lastly, in addition to his position as gallery owner, Jean-Christophe Charbonnier has authored an abundance of important literature and reference books in European languages on the subject of Japanese armour. For instance, he recently organized for the Musée national des arts asiatiques—Guimet and the Palais de Tokyo the exhibition “Daimyo, Warlords of Japan” which opened in spring 2018, and published the catalogue.

Galerie Jean-Christophe Charbonnier has been a member of the Syndicat National des Antiquaires since 2009, of the CINOA (International Confederation of Art Dealers) as well as the NKBKHK (Nihon Katchû Bugu Kenkyû Honzon Kai), the association for the research and preservation of Japanese amour.

The Yamaguchi clan was a daimyô family (fudai) that descended from a cadet branch of the Ouchi clan 大内, which ruled the Ushiku fief in Itachi from 1628 until Meiji.